04 A Rose Without Thorns
by Tzarina8472
Summary: Under threat from Tails (?), Sonic asks Amy to an athletics fair where her cousin picks her pocket and Amy decides to attend her wedding. Meanwhile, Eggman has framed and kidnapped April Tailor, an average girl living in York City with her human adoptive family, and plans to present her to the world as Sonic's long lost sister. T for April's attitude about being related to Sonic.
1. Chapter 1 Day In Review

Day in Review

_September 8, 3233_

_Dear Diary,_

_There's just no other way around it. I'm going to kill my sister._

_Not really, but today was horrible. Another day of school, another game, but I didn't know there was going to be a live news interview in store for me. So everything started normally. I happened to beat her today, and we mutually accepted a rematch after the game. Naturally there would be one, right?_

_Well, my sister had her classes and I had mine, and come 5 o clock, the other team arrived with a pack of homies. Honestly, they looked pathetic. All of them were human, which almost automatically meant our team would win. I can jump higher, am faster, and can shoot from further away than any human ever will. When I have the ball, I feel like I can guide it with my eyes. Because I am the only antho on my team, that makes me the relative star player. I hate it when there are anthos on the other team._

_Well, anyway, play went as expected with us winning 9 to 6, (ok, maybe a little odd that the other team's score was so high and ours was so low, but still it was a good game) but apparently the team we played today was some big shot. (Maybe that's why their score was so high.) So there were TV cameras everywhere! How cool was that? - At first. I got to play the whole game, and after the game, some rapid mouth in a tux pulled me aside for an interview._

_"What's your name?" He was a human. "I am April," I said. "How does it make you feel to be the only anthropomorphic animal in the league?" "Excuse me?" I asked. What was an anthropomorphic animal? "You're the only hedgehog on your team, how does it make you feel?" "Oh!" I knew exactly what to say. "I love it! And I feel good about supporting my team. I feel like I really matter. Sometimes I think I intimidate the other players. You know sometimes, when they see me when they're getting off the bus they'll nod heads. But when they see me in uniform, I even had one girl start biting her nails!" "Is it true that you are only a Freshmen?" "Um, yes it is." What kind of question was that? It's not that I look like, say 18 and should be a senior like June. Then the gent with the mike says, "Now, I don't happen to see your family anywhere…" Then I say, "They're here, they're right over there." Then I point into the grand stands where Mom and Daddy are. June was busy cheer leading. So he puts one hand across his eyebrows and squints. "I'm adopted!" I almost wanted to shout, but how bogus would that look on TV? So I just called my sister over to distract him for a while. In all reality, I think the guy was completely brainless. Why on Mobius would a human family choose to adopt a baby hedgehog when they lived in a human city? He just couldn't get over that fact. So I stand there looking distant for about four minutes when he turns back to me and asks what I think about our world hero. I told him I only watch action movies and sports channels on TV at home. That would have shut him up real good. But then June has to go and say I actually have a secret crush on said world hero. I SHOULD HAVE SLAPPED HER! "I DO NOT!" I shouted. But my 'charming' sister was laughing so hard, I pushed her away. Not that something like that going on air is bad, which it isn't because no one who'd have watched today's events will have any idea who I am nor will they care and probably every other girl in the world would jump at the chance to lie to the public eye and say they have a crush on someone famous when they probably don't but really want to feel included with all who do..._

_I'm sorry. I love my darling human sister, but she said it so loud, EVERYONE on the team turned their heads!_

_Oh great! Here she comes now._

* * *

_September 8, 33_

_Guess what? No! Don't guess! I'm going to tell you! Sonic is going to take me out to the fair tomorrow! How exciting! I can't wait! I'm so excited I HAVE to write this down! Of course, we aren't going alone like I wish we were. Tails and Cream are coming too. And not to forget Cheese. Except maybe not Cream and Cheese, because Cream might have to do homework. She started going to first grade this week. We'll probably be the only kids there, because everyone else is in school. So, what will we be doing there if it isn't the kind of fair where there are side shows and Ferris wheels? It's really some kind of athletes convention. We've never gone before, except for Sonic. I wonder why he's taking me this time?_

* * *

_You'd better watch your back, Tails. Whatever got into you head is beyond me, but I'm keeping my eye on you. Next time, little bro. Next time._

_Anyway, at least the athletes' convention is in town-not that it wouldn't have mattered if it wasn't-so I can safely keep Amy occupied for that day. I also invited Tails and Cream along, just because. I'm not sure if Cream will be able to come. Her mom has kinda started to home school her at a very relaxed pace. She's learning how to spell and how to do subtraction. Not bad for six. Tails definitely will come, I made him promise. He has to come because I have to keep an eye on him. Why? Because he told me he'd tell Amy that I avoided her because I deeply loved her, if I didn't take her on a date within a week. This invitation should stop any of that. I think we'll all have fun. I'm not sure who I'm doing the obstacle course against this year, but I hope it's not Shadow again. He actually gave me a run for my money. Then again, I suppose I do owe him a rematch. After all, it's not his fault his shoes burned the tight rope._

* * *

**Log: 9-8-33 1800 Hours CST**

**Commence Recording:**

Good evening, Eggman Empire! I just watched the most lovely little sports news clip. Naturally, I have set up a scan of all public media for any mention of Sonic, just so I can keep tabs on him sometimes. As for the basketball game, I was so intrigued, that I recorded it. And now I have a strange and foreign theory to work over. April Tailor is Sonic the Hedgehog's sister. Following is the evidence. April is a fourteen year old hedgehog, adopted by a human family, and lives in York City. I looked up her adoption records, and discovered them sealed. The Tailors adopted April in the month of April. I came to my previous conclusion by my knowledge of these two individuals, Sonic and April. April races her sister's motorcycle six miles to school and twelve miles home every day. April is pretty quick on the basketball court, able to steal, dodge, and shoot with ease. She plays the entire game as center without breaking a sweat. And there was a slightly familiar tune to the way she spoke and various inflections she used. Her coat and quills are long, and are a bold, deep purple color. Above all, her eyes are emerald green, the exact same color as Sonic's. When I overlaid a semitransparent photo of Sonic's face over April's, they looked very much the same-except April has allowed her eyelashes to grow.

I believe it is definitely possible for them to be related somehow, if not unfamiliar siblings or cousins. I also know, for a fact, more about Sonic than he thinks I know about him. I know that about thirteen years ago, a small tsunami washed through his home area at the beginning of winter. It is possible that this is where Sonic got his great fear of deep water and why he cannot swim. If April was also there, she might have been washed out to sea and grabbed onto something that floated. An extremely loose hypothesis, to be sure. But I intend to prove it or otherwise file it where none can find it, possibly including this entire entry.

End Log.

* * *

_Dear journal,_

_Oh, ugh! I hate everything about theatrics! When Paul finally works up the nerve to pop the question, and _I'm_ the one leading our clan, we are going to make music. No more drama! Just the simple pleasures of instrumental music. I think I liked it better when our clan told fortunes. Then, when the first little flower born could read the cards almost as soon as she could read normal books. And it worked, I mean REALLY it worked. Whatever cards she read, it happened. But only if _she _read them__. Sometimes it was confusing, other times simple, but whatever it said it usually came true. That is, unless she was goofing with us. Then one day, she just disappeared. I wonder where our flower is these days? Was my baby cousin kidnapped? Or did she run away? And about this time I sigh and say to myself that we'll never know for sure. So much for wishful thinking._

_On a more modern note, our clan goes to the athletics fair for easy pickings in the morning._


	2. Chapter 2 The Little Snipe

The Little Snipe

Daisy May wondered aimlessly through the streams of people. _Grandma was the real pro at this._ She bumped into a tall human dressed in a long coat. "Excuse me," she met his eyes.

The kind gentlemen tipped his hat. "I'm sure it was my fault, m'lady. No offence taken."

She walked away with his wallet. Daisy looked about and spotted a shaded table where Glossy Rose sat looking over her own findings. She sat down across from her cousin. "How's the fishing been going for you?"

Rose took out two one dollar bills. "Minnows."

"Tough love." Daisy plopped the holdings of her fist on the wooden surface. "Let's see what's in the net. Let's see… Oh wow. This old man had nine credit cards."

"Any cash?" Rose stood and leaned over the table.

Daisy searched deeper. "Nickels and dimes." She sighed and swapped wallets with her cousin. "Tall human in a long gray wool coat, and a stiff brown hat. I think his hair was black with a couple grays."

"Got it." Rose swiped up the old man's wallet and set out to return it. "Mother Goose. She's got a couple of chick babes with her."

"I'll find her." Daisy stood up.

"Oh! And she's in the food court!" Rose waved before she skipped away.

"So you took her pocket book right before she was about to pay?"

"No! I'm not _that_ stupid." Her pale pink features crinkled up as her grin grew. "I got it after." Then she was off.

Daisy clucked her tong. _You are such a kid. That's why it was so empty, you little snipe!_ She slowly walked through the food court, idly glancing at the mini family picture from time to time.

A goose with two little geese girls following her waddled by and shoved some paper plates and napkins in a trash can.

Daisy ran up behind them. "Pardon me, but I believe you dropped this." She held forward the closed pocket book.

"God bless you, sweet heart." Mother Goose accepted her wallet back and put it in her coat pocket. "I didn't even notice."

Daisy smiled and curtsied. "You're very welcome."

"I'm so glad the world still holds honest young people like you." She brought the older girl forward with her right hand. "I try to teach my girls to be polite and honest."

"I'm sure you do a very good job."

"She does a very good job indeed, Miss." The older daughter held forward her hand for a shake.

Daisy smiled again and shook her hand. _You are so innocent._

"Good day to you. Come along, girls!" Mother Goose led her kids away.

"Babes indeed." Daisy knew why there weren't more kids around, they were all in school. That was the most dangerous thing about being here, it was odd to have a teen year old in the crowd, like Little Rose._ I wish there were more middle teens here today. They are so easy to pick from! It's like they're begging for it!_

Right as that thought crossed her mind, Daisy spotted a small group of teenagers. "Wow. What luck!" A fox and two hedgehogs, all waiting in line for corn dogs. Neither of the boys had pockets, but the girl seemed to be showing off her new jacket. Then her coin purse. Daisy laughed to herself. Coin purses usually weren't worth it, but you never knew what you'd find in one. Besides, she needed some entertainment.

* * *

"Four dollars and fifty cents! See? Ha! I do have enough in here." Amy snapped shut the little bag and put it in her right pocket.

"We could just give them a power ring," Sonic shrugged. "We've got plenty of them, and they usually eat them up."

"What I don't get is why you need a purse." Tails shook his head. "You have the largest Hammerspace of all, yet you still insist on using _that_ dinky little thing. Don't you know how much lint it will collect in a month? You won't even be able to pull it all out by this time next year!"

Amy put her hands on her hips. "It's the fashion. Everybody has a coin purse like this."

Sonic patted his sides. "Doesn't look like I have one."

"Me neither." Tails grinned at Sonic. "I guess we don't fit Amy's definition of everyone."

"If we're not everyone," Sonic smirked down at his best bud. "Does that mean we're no one?"

"Oh stop it!" Amy giggled and suddenly jumped at them a step. "Excuse you!" She looked over her shoulder at a slightly taller lady passing by.

"Oops, pardon me." The girl nodded and walked quickly away.

The line moved forward. Sonic took a step, watching the young woman melt into the crowd. "Amy, check your pockets."

"Why?" Amy put a hand in her right pocket. "Is something… Hey! Where did it go?!"

"That lady must have taken it!" Tails pointed to her in the thickening crowd.

"Hold my place in line!" Amy ran after the thief.

The girl glanced over her shoulder and began to run.

"Stop!" Amy ran faster.

She ducked inside an alley, knocking down wooden crates in her wake.

Amy snapped for her hammer and bashed them all to splinters.

At the end of the alley was a brown picket fence. The girl climbed a barrel over the fence and out of sight.

Amy cleared the fence with a single jump and caught the girl around the waist. "I _know_ you have my coin purse! Just please give it back, and I'll not report you to the police."

"I don't have your juvenile purse! It's back in that mess of splinters. Get off me!" The girl freed herself and stood up, brushing herself off.

Amy crossed her arms. "Well you'd better find it for me! Otherwise I might decide to knock some heads together."

She had aqua blue eyes. "Well if you want it so bad, little girl, why don't you go look for it yourself? _You're_ the one with gloves on." She held up her fingers. "I don't."

Amy huffed. Her breath turned slightly gray in the cool weather. "Do you know who I am?"

"Sure, you're a pip squeak who decided to get in my way!" She bent her knees and positioned her hands in a way that looked like a poor imitation of some kind of martial art.

"Your foot's off center." Amy whipped out her hammer again and swung.

The stranger caught Amy's hammer mid swing. "Rosy?"

"Huh?" Amy pulled away, confused.

"Rosy Rascal?" The strange girl stepped forward.

Amy shook her head. "So you've done your homework. What do you want? An autograph?"

"No, you're my cousin." She pulled off her hood. Her styled quills were a light medium pink color.

"Ok, prove it!" Amy closed her eyes. "What's my little sister's name?"

"Glossy Rose, but she was called Molly Rose when you knew her. I think."

Amy's hammer vanished and her mouth opened as wide as her eyes. "What was my favorite color?"

It was the girl's turn to close her eyes. "While you were young, you had two, green and orange. You disgusted the rest of us with the shirts and tutus you wore. But then about a week before you disappeared, it changed to blue. But not just any blue, cobalt blue."

Amy's jaw dropped. She took tiny steps closer and opened her eyes wide. "How did you know it was me?"

The other girl spoke slowly, as though considering every word. "You were always able to make large objects come and go as you pleased. You liked throwing heavy rocks and swinging sticks. And you were always a quick one, darting here and there in whatever town we happened to be in. You've changed quite a bit, but I see that you have retained all of these traits since then."

"Now tell me if I get this right." Amy closed her eyes. "Your name is… Was, Mary May, right?"

She nodded. "But for now it's Daisy May. Can I hug you yet?"

Amy ran into her and and almost knocked them both down with her a hug. They stood there for a few minutes, then Amy lifted her head and rubbed her eyes. "You don't happen to watch the news a lot, do you?"

Daisy shook her head. "Nope. You remember. We never have TV unless we go to store that has one."

Amy smiled. "I'm famous."

"You always were."

"No." Amy moved a crate against the wall. "I'm here with Sonic. Tails came too. Come meet them!"

"I don't believe you, but sure!" Daisy smiled as she used the crate to jump the fence.

Amy skipped the box and landed next to her cousin.

* * *

Sonic and Tails walked away from the window, Sonic carrying two corn-dogs and Tails with one.

"I wonder where Amy chased that crook." Tails sat at a table with an umbrella over it.

"I wonder why she didn't ask me to get her toy back for her." Sonic set Amy's corn dog near an empty place. He lifted his eyebrow at Tails. "And about her, you know, being here…"

Tails's ears folded back slightly and he glanced down at the snack. "Knuckles made me do it," he whispered.

"Knuckles?" Sonic snapped his fingers. "I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner. Why did you let him push you around, Little Bro?"

"Don't worry, I'll make him suffer for it. In order to collect my prize for than glow stick thing, I had to take a dare. In return, he'd do anything I told him to for an hour." He took a small bite of corn dog.

Sonic squeezed a small packet of ketchup over his corn dog. "Make him ask Rouge out on a date." He looked up and a strange expression came over his face. "Ok, either I'm seeing double or Amy's cloned herself."

"Hmmm?" Tails turned around.

There was Amy in her new fall coat, walking hand in hand with the very purse thief they'd met in line. The other girl's dress had a visible patch. Amy waved. "Scoot over, Tails!"

Tails shrugged and scooted.

"So," Sonic asked as they sat down. "Who's this?"

"Sonic! This is my cousin! Daisy May!" Amy sat beside Sonic, pulling her corn dog closer.

May sat between Tails and Amy. "Wow. You weren't kidding."

"I'm Sonic." He held out his hand.

She shook it. "Very nice to meet you. And you too." She shook hands with Tails.

"And I'm Tails."

"Amy," May seemed to be scanning the crowd. "Your sister is here too, just so you know."

"Wait, you have a sister?" Sonic asked.

"Does that surprise you?" Amy smiled at him. "You never asked."

"You never told!" Tails complained, sighed, and sat back. "I guess none of us ever told."

"Well, it just so happens that I had an entire family before I got kidnapped. What about you, Tails?" Amy broke off about half her corn dog.

"I was an orphan," he replied. "Until I ran into Sonic when he came to Westside. Or rather, until he almost ran over me."

May smiled.

"But I never understood," Tails continued, looking at Sonic. "Why you tried to leave me behind."

They all looked to Sonic. He shrugged. "Didn't your folks ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

The girls laughed, "No!"

Tails smiled sarcastically. "I don't believe you."

"Which part don't you believe?"

"The part where you implied that your folks told you not to talk to strangers. And even if they did, I can't imagine you following their instructions. Because somehow, you got acquainted with Eggman, and you most certainly talked to me!"

"You're right. I broke the rules _all_ the time." Sonic grinned.

May turned around, then stood up. "Glossy Rose! Over here!"

A mini version of Amy Rose came skipping out of the crowd. "Daisy! Why are you- AAHH!" She stopped short and threw her hands to her mouth.

Amy had turned too. She smiled and waved.

"Come on," Daisy held out her hand, wiggling her fingers.

Glossy slowly took a few steps closer, eyes wide staring at Amy. "Are you me?"

Amy giggled. "Nope."

"This is your older sister and her friends." May brought her little cousin closer.

"Family? Friends? Well, in that case." Glossy plopped herself in Amy's lap.

"So," Sonic asked. "Are we meeting the reason why you like Cream so much?"

"Maybe." Amy hugged her sister.

Glossy looked up into her eyes. "You drink coffee?"

"No, Cream is the name of my best friend. She's about your age." She pet the little girl's unruly quills.

Tails folded his hands. "What a small world Mobius is becoming. So, what brings you to the Great Valley Athlete's convention?"

May barely glanced to her right. "We were in town and I just wanted to teach the little snipe a bit about culture."

Glossy blinked. "Um hum! But we haven't really seen anything yet, just a couple of ring tosses and then it was time for lunch."

Sonic glanced up, reached down and pulled up a tiny slip of paper. "Little Buddy, we've got to get over there!"

"Where?" May asked.

"Sonic always enters in the obstacle course. It's a skills race. You're both welcome to join us!" Amy stood up, setting Glossy on the ground.

"Sure!" Glossy started skipping in circles.

"Oh, we'd love to!"

* * *

June parked her motorcycle in the sloped driveway, pulled out the key, and unsaddled. She strode over to the lone tree beside the house, and sat on the opposite side as the small purple girl. "So... you still not talking to me? I thought we were going to race home."

"You embarrassed me in front of the team." April snapped shut her diary.

"I thought you were going to talk about it going on live TV."

"I guarantee it, the couches were almost empty when potato pets identically turn on a high school basketball games. And I don't know any couch potato pets."

June pulled her leather gloves off and tossed them in the grass. "I thought you'd just snag out one of those witty quips of yours."

"You're not a bully. When I do that for the underdog, I'm making it up as I head over there. I don't just spout them on the spot. Well, sometimes I can, but not always."

June sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Forgiven!" She jumped up, turning around with a grin on her teeth. "So what ate you up back there? Stuck around for the _cat_ food?"

"I was keeping my eyes pealed for you!" June held up a hand.

April pulled her up. "Mom's said the food's getting too cold if you didn't show up soon!"

"Well, I guess we'd better get inside!" She stooped to gather her gloves on the way in.


	3. Chapter 3 Obstacle Course

Obstacle Course

Sonic ran up to his place at the starting gate and waved to the crowds. For some _strange_ reason, this particular event of the convention was much more popular now than it had ever been before last year. Then Sonic spotted Tails, Amy, and her family finding seats.

Some mongoose kid came forward and stood beside Sonic at the starting gate. He glanced up as thought to say something, but suddenly decided that his cross trainers needed retying.

"Welcome." Sonic squatted, offering a hand shake.

He looked up and smiled. "Uh, hi." The kid shook hand. "I'm a fan, but I didn't know…"

"That's ok." Sonic patted him on the shoulder.

He relaxed a bit. "I've been training for this for a while, but seeing you, I just know I'm about to get creamed."

Sonic chuckled a bit. "No way! If they put you here, isn't that already quite the accomplishment?"

"I, guess so." He finally stood up, then grinned. "So don't you dare hold out on me!"

"Ok, you asked for it." Sonic nodded. "What's your name?"

"Marcus, but at home they call me Quicksilver."

"Welcome to the big leagues, Quicksilver."

The announcer at the podium tapped his microphone. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO THE OBSTACLE COURSE. PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS, THE RACE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN."

The crowd started to quiet down on the grand stands in anticipation.

"OUR CONTESTANTS, QUICKSILVER MARCUS THE MONGOOSE," he who was at the podium paused while a school stood up waving their banners and cheering fiercely. "AND SONIC THE HEDGEHOG," almost the entire grand stand stood up and roared.

Marcus sighed.

Sonic waved to the audience. "Just ignore them. I usually do."

Marcus faced the gate, seeming slightly reassured.

"WILL NOW GET IN THE STARTING POSITION." The announcer finally finished.

Sonic and Marcus each gripped the bar across the opaque door in front of them. Another set of curved bars supported a pair of high speed video cameras, used to put live pictures on a giant screen. Whatever was behind that door, the course looked like it would be a long one.

"ON YOUR MARKS,"

"Three second head start?" Sonic glanced to his left.

"GET SET,"

"I told you not to hold out on me!" Marcus grinned back.

"GOOO!"

A whistle was blown, the number two gate was pushed up, and the crowd went wild. Sonic pushed open the gate. "Oh great!"

The first obstacle was a balance game. Suspended over a pool of green safety goo hung two rows of chain suspended disks. The players had to jump from disk to disk, landing both feet on opposite sides of the chain or otherwise find themselves bathing in green goo. Marcus made the first move and leaped for a far off disk.

In no mood to face a repeat of what happened on Angel Island, Sonic jumped for the second disk. He grabbed the chain to swing as though they were vines, but the chain jerked to an abrupt halt and almost hit him in the face. Marcus glanced at him, but carefully calculating his jump for the third disk. Sonic reached for the next chain, only to realize that the only way across was to keep jumping. So he jumped for the third disk and landed it perfectly. There were seven disks left, and there would be no more skipping.

Sonic slowly pulled ahead, but as he continued to glance back at Marcus's progress, the more he became convinced that whoever had designed this track had designed it so well, anyone could've challenged Sonic with roughly an equal chance of winning, regardless of that other person's background, average running speed, strength, or stamina. Besides, Sonic had left all his rings with Tails just in case he would be racing against such a person as Marcus.

The next obstacle appeared to be a ditch filled with fog. Sonic jumped off the last disk._ Beep!_ Surprised, he looked down. The floor he was standing on was glowing red through the fog. He ran ahead, _beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_ There was another door at the end of this musical run, but it was multi colored and had no handle. It was painted in horizontal stripes, green, red, blue, yellow, orange, purple. Marcus's door was in the same colors, but in a different order.

Marcus jogged up to his door and stared at it. Then he looked down and snapped his fingers. He ran back, almost all the way back to the first obstacle and started dancing back and forth. _Beep, beep! Beep, beep!_

Sonic looked at the door again, then jumped, _beep,_ and glanced down. The floor tile below was now glowing orange. He jumped again and it turned yellow. Then he clapped his hands and ran back to the first section of colored floor, jumping on it until it turned green.

The two contestants finished at the same time. The colored doors opened automatically and the next challenge became apparent. Below was another trough of safety goo, above which swung twin rows of tires. There were also rows of pulsing fans, making the tires swing out of line with each other. Not only that, but the openings were too small for Sonic to spin through.

Both of them dove into the first tires at the same time. Inch by inch, they had to crawl through, stilling the swaying before inching inside. This act almost upset the masses, as no one could see either racer, but only positions indicated by where the tires swayed together.

Sonic finished first, head sticking out. He quickly inched his way out and onto the next platform, walking on his hands and almost falling into the safety goo when he kicked the last tire away. Sonic viewed the next thing to do. "You guys just _had_ to put this one back in, didn't you?" It was a tightrope, bent in the middle so that it kept going around the curved track. Also on this platform were a long stick and two medium sided weights. Sonic picked up one of the weights, a 20 pound disk with a hole in the center. "What am I supposed to do with these?" He tossed it into the goo below the rope. It's twin joined it. Sonic picked up the long stick and began walking across with both arms out, using it to help keep balance. _They didn't have the sticks last year._

Now far behind, Marcus exited the swinging tire tunnel on his hands. Almost everyone was watching Sonic, so they didn't notice him slide one weight on either end of the long stick. A perfect fit. He started his journey at a brisk pace, hardly slowing down for the bend.

Sonic glanced over. "Dude! How are you doing that?"

"No cheating!" Marcus turned around and started walking backward, mockery in the eyes and on the mouth.

"Your shoe's untied."

"Your buckle is unbelted."

"Your left weight is about to slip."

"Huh?" Marcus glanced at the weight.

"Oh!" Sonic pointed. "But don't lose the other one!"

"I said no cheating! You're distracting me!" Marcus turned back forwards and hopped off the rope at the end, dropping the weighted pole.

"Turnabout is fair play, pal."

"What just happened?" Marcus was looking down.

Sonic stuck the stick in the goo and used it to jump to dry land. As soon as his feet touched the ground, two little hands faster than the eye tied his feet together. "What? What is this?" He hopped forward, and ran into a wall.

Marcus knocked on the wall. "Hmmm…"

_How are we supposed to get over this thing? _Sonic wondered.

"Use the pole, Quicksilver!" someone shouted.

Sonic grabbed his stick form the goo, planted it on the ground, and vaulted himself over the wall.

The crowd cheered as Sonic landed in a giant star balloon landing pad. Fabric tubes rocket skyward and spouted shiny plastic stars everywhere as Sonic and less that a second later, Marcus sank into the cushion. Sonic laughed. "That was fun! We ought to do it again sometime."

"Yeah, how about next year?" Marcus sat up. "Possible rematch?"

"Anytime!" Sonic untied the rope holding his feet together.

Someone walked up to them and gave them each a plastic gold medal.

"I don't understand." Marcus stared at the fake medallion. "I didn't win."

"Yeah you did." Sonic nodded. "You came in close enough behind, that's considered a tie. And speaking of tie…"

"I'm still tied up, is that it?" he pulled the rope over his feet and tossed it aside.

Sonic helped him stand up, and the audience roared one last time.

* * *

April spun the combination lock on her locker.

"How's your Romeo?"

She sighed. "Jen, just because I'm a freshmen doesn't mean I'm scared of bullies. Go away, please."

"Oh, I didn't want to embarrass you, my little purple bush pig."

The sound of multiple girls giggling alerted April that Jen had her clique with her. She turned around. "One, two, three, four… You need _five_ extra witnesses? What, are you the least credited chic this side of the Great River?"

One of the girls snorted, promptly covering her nose.

Jen crossed her arms. "They're here for the show. So, how's your Romeo? Have you even met him yet? And how about that Amy chic? Looks like you've got some tough competition." She was smirking.

Obviously, Jen was leading up to something that was bound to send either one or both of them to the principal's office. Not a happy place. April opened her mouth to speak, closed it and inhaled. She sniffed the air and suddenly knew the truth.

"Look! The Tailor mascot is speechless," the girl started a giggle fits in all the others except Jen.

"Why aren't you wearing your perfume, Jen?" April continued with her locker. "Did Alex break up with you or something?"

All the girls stared at their leader, who's eyes had turned into flaming daggers. "Alex and I have been a couple since the second grade! How dare you suggest such a thing!"

Other kids in the hall stopped to watch.

"You could smell that? Really?" someone asked.

April sniffed the air again. "Yeah, It's almost like that perfume of yours naturally emanates from your skin like flowery body odor. What kind of condition are you keeping yourself in, Jen? Are you feeling a little depressed?"

She didn't answer, simply thrust out her fist.

"Oops." April jumped back. "Missed me."

Jen didn't bother anymore. She ran away with her groupies following at a civilized pace.

"Wow!" A wall flower girl came over and looked down to April. "How did you do that? Teach me how to make bullies go away like that!"

"Practice, mostly." April returned to her locker and finally opened it. "But you have to have a quick wit, and don't let your voice break. You can't be scared of them either, otherwise they'll see it in your eyes."

The five minute bell rang. Wall Flower girl glanced up and smiled down. "Thanks a bunch!"

April grabbed the book she needed for history class and sent it to phantom land. She closed her locker and walked down the hall.

* * *

After class, April was on her way back to the lockers when she spotted another bully beating up another kid. "Hey! HEY!"

"Oh look! The pincushion is here!" Bully Bill dropped the kid he'd been holding against the wall. "Let's stick her with needles!" He and his gang started walking her way as the other boy bolted.

April walked to meet them. "You know, the problem with sticking me with needles is that the needles don't stick."

They formed a ring around her.

"Oh, that kind of needle." April nodded her head.

"Way to catch on, you little rat." Alex held up his hands and took half a step back. "But I'm not going to lay a finger on you, because you might have fleas! I will lay my boot on you, though."

"Well," April smirked. "You always _did_ need a footrest. Did Jen retire from being one for you? Is that why she wasn't wearing her trademark perfume this morning? Or did you give her the get go?"

Alex fumed.

"Careful, dude-et. You mess with my bro, you mess with me!"

April turned and analyzed the tough guy speaking to her. "How original."

"You wanting something original, well here it comes." He leaned his shoulders back and popped forward a peace sign. "Except I can't do it right, because I just don't have the stature."

"Or lack thereof." Everyone in the circle laughed.

"I fail to recognize what was considered humorous." April slowly spun around.

One of them made girly eyes at the guy next to him. "Oh, nothing. Just your _secret_ crush."

"Please! Don't go gay on us!" April jumped and lightly slapped his face. "Besides, you voice is way too low, as though it's doing limbo or something and the cross beam is top notch."

"That, or all you girls' voices have their tongs in the clouds."

April smiled and cupped her hands around her mouth. "DID YOU HEAR THAT EVERYBODY?! HE SAID I WAS TALL!"

"Keep dreaming, _little_ sis," someone else crossed his arms. "You might _shorten_ your life expectancy if you say stuff like that. I bet that your momma was so short, she made babies look down on her."

"I have one! Your momma's so short, she doesn't even have to duck when she visits_ critter_ mice!"

"Me too!" Bully Bill raised his hand. "Your mamma's so small, the ants stepped on her and didn't bother to wipe their shoes!"

"All you guys are wasting your time and breath on…_ my mother_?" April shrugged at Bill. "My mother is dead."

"Ah, your mother is neighbors with the worms!"

"Excuse me,"

April perked up at her sister's voice.

June tapped Bill on the shoulder. She was almost half an inch taller than him. "Don't you and your homies have _anything_ better to do?"

"Aww, did you come here to rescue your little pet?"

"Watch your mouth." June firmly gripped his shoulder. "And don't ruffle the fluffy."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Alex cupped an ear. "I think that the cheer leader just insulted her own porcupine!"

"Dude! I'm a hedgehog! There is a difference!"

June took her hand off of Bill and came over to Alex. She tipped her head in April's direction. "She's not the fluffy one."

Her words took a minute to sink in. The bell rang.

"You know, I think they're going to miss you next year." April looked up to her sister.

"The price I pay for graduating. Come here!" June hugged her with an arm. "Shall we go home?"

"Sure. Race?"

"You're on!"

* * *

April waited at the cross walk, just as June waited for the red to change. Just as it did, and the green man replaced the red hand, June stepped on the gas and her motorcycle vroomed forward. She could see her sister ahead, running as fast as she could before the end of the 25 zone, so as to gain enough ground to last twelve miles minus the distance lost through a short cut. After a couple minutes of 25, June pushed it up to 40 as she entered the city's main road. After about ten minutes, June caught sight of April again, just as she turned to follow her short cut. June kept driving on the main road until she saw their street turned. She quickly glanced around around. No sign of April. Into their neighborhood, and still no running purple hedgehog. Then she pulled into the driveway, smirking at the lonely tree. "I guess I beat you by a long shot this time."

* * *

June glanced at her watch and grunted. She stood up and went inside. "Mom, I've been sitting out there for ten minutes! She's still not home yet! Can I come in?"

Mom poked her head out of the kitchen, worry on her face. "Go find your sister."


	4. Chapter 4 Proposal

Proposal

Marcus followed Sonic to meet his friends.

Sonic clapped his hands. "Picture time everybody!"

Glossy jumped into May's arms. "I don't want my picture taken!"

Amy sighed and half frowned. "That's ok. They know me better anyway."

"Could you take the picture?" Marcus offered his camera to May.

"Sure." She looked at it. "How does it work?"

"Just push this button." Marcus pointed, then stood with Sonic, Tails, and Amy. He grinned, holding up his plastic medal.

Tails stood beside Marcus, holding up two fingers. Sonic was on Marcus's other side, standing slightly sideways and giving a pig thumbs up with the medal handing from it. Amy put the head of her hammer on the ground, folded her hands on top of the handle, and smiled really big next to Sonic.

After May snapped the picture, it printed out at the bottom.

Tails caught it before it hit the ground. He gave it to Marcus. "Want us to sign it?"

He smiled. "That'd be great." Marcus gave it back.

Tails took out a dark yellow pen and put his name in block letters. He passed it to Sonic.

Sonic clicked a blue pen and wrote his name smoothly, then drew lines as though it was going fast. Sonic handed the picture to Amy.

Amy snapped and had a red pen, with which she singed in cursive. Then drew a heart around hers and Sonic's name. She flipped it front side up. "Here you go!"

Sonic turned away and rolled his eyes.

"Thanks! Bye!" Marcus ran to join his classmates.

"Sonic?" Amy put her hands behind her back.

Tails looked away.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to go with Daisy May and Glossy Rose, to visit my family."

That caught his attention. "Wait, you're leaving?"

Amy nodded. "I haven't seen them in five years."

"Ok." Sonic shrugged. "Have fun."

She crossed her arms and frowned. "I was hoping you'd at least _act_ disappointed."

"No, really," Sonic smiled. "I'm happy for you. After all, what's more important than family?"

Amy sighed. "Nothing, I suppose." She looked up. "I'll miss you."

"I'll be sure Cream knows your address."

Tails came back. "_I'll_ miss you, Amy." They shook hands.

Amy glanced at Sonic, then followed after her sister and cousin.

"They have to be back home by two o clock," Tails explained. "Don't worry, she'll be back soon."

"Who's worried?" Sonic asked. "I know she'll be back, she likes me too much."

"Do you like her?" Tails smirked.

"Knock it off!" He ruffled Tails's hair. "Just wish we could've seen how that picture turned out."

* * *

You'd never again see such shouts of joy, as when Amy Rose came home. Her mother kissed her, her daddy gave her a giant sized hug, and Grandpa exclaimed how much she'd grown. Aunt May and Uncle Biff were still the same as ever, but there was a tall, dark, and handsome hanging around whom Amy didn't recognize. But May sure _knew_ him, the way Amy would have liked to know Sonic.

"Amy, I want you to meat Paul." May pulled him over by the arm. "Say hello, Paul."

Paul was a tall midnight green hedgehog with white speckles around his black eyes and his skin was very tanned. He wore loose black pants that had been patched two or three times, dust colored sandals, and a white polo shirt. "Hallo señorita, welcome to your home." He bowed and kissed her hand.

Amy blushed. "You don't live here too?"

"It is, but more yours than mine." He held May's hand. "You are their blood, they let me come along."

May leaned in closer to him. "_I_ wouldn't mid it if you became family."

Paul tenderly brushed the bangs out of May's eyes. "You have a magnificent family, mi novia. And I would love to join it."

Daisy May paused, grinning. "Was that what I thought it was?"

Paul smiled, his face glowing.

"AMY!" Glossy Rose bounced in. "Oops! I didn't know there was one of _those_ moments going on."

"She's right." May opened the back door. "We should take this outside."

Amy watched them go. "What cha' want, sis?"

"Mommy needs help in our room. Come!" Glossy grabbed Amy's hand and they skipped together into Glossy's room.

Amy stopped in the door. "Mom! You kept all my stuff!"

"Of course!" She squeezed her. "I knew you'd be back someday! You meant too much to us to be gone forever."

Amy looked over her mother's shoulder to find all her old things. Although the green and orange outfits now lay folded in Glossy's trunk, the orange bed sheets were the same, a favorite pillow, her old deck of half sized tarot cards (designed to fit in small hands), even a cobalt blue hair band that still shown new.

Glossy sat on the lower of the bunk beds, swinging her legs. "Amy, because you have a big head now, can I have the hair thingy?"

"Rose!" Mom snapped at Glossy.

"You can have it." Amy smiled. "I'm sure you don't know what you just said."

"I know what I said." Glossy reached for the hair band and put it in her hair. "I asked for this and you said yes."

"From now on, darling, don't say that anyone has a big head." Mom knelt by Amy's old trunk and pulled out a green checkered quilt.

"Why not?" Glossy admired herself in a hand mirror.

"Because saying someone has a big head is very rude." Amy straightened the shiny hair band. "Most people who aren't your sister will be offended by it."

Mom threw the quilt on the top bunk. "I'd love to meet the woman who taught you manners, Rosie."

Amy jumped on top of the bed and helped to spread the quilt. "One of my friends, Cream, her mother is explicit when it comes to manners. Cream is polite to everyone, even Eggman!"

"What does that word mean?" Glossy asked. "Explit, exslip…"

"Explicit means to be clear, dear." Mom climbed up on top and tucked the quilt in at the bottom. "Who taught you that word?"

Amy thought about it. "Probably Tails. He has a bigger vocabulary than all of us combined. Tails is like Sonic's little brother."

"And Sonic fights Eggman," Glossy picked up her pillow and started petting it like a doll. "And because of that, we have some degree of peace and stableness."

"Stability, dear." Mom slapped the smooth quilt. "All done, Rosie."

Someone screamed.

"That's Daisy May!" Glossy tossed the pillow back on her bed and ran outside.

May screamed again, everyone gathered outside. "PAUL IS GOING TO MARRY ME!"

Aunt May cupped her hands over her mouth. "YOU GO GIRL!"

* * *

June found April just as dusk was starting to fall. An officer on a hovering motorcycle had found her first.

"What? I don't catch your drift!" April crossed her arms. "I wasn't driving a car, I wasn't riding a bike, I_ was_ however, running. What on Mother Mobius is wrong with _running_?"

"You were moving 35 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone," he said mechanically. "I am authorized to give you this speeding ticket. Please show up in court this weekend to pay your fine. Please sign."

"Look, Buster! I'm not signing anything! You've been holding me up for," she checked her watch. "Half an hour! I'm going to miss dinner! You're making me late! Look, here's my sister come to find out what's become of me."

June stopped her bike. "Excuse me sir. My sister is fourteen years old. If I remember correctly, the legal age is eighteen?"

"Nevertheless," he pushed the tiny ticket at April again. "Your sister was speeding in a residential area."

"That's bogus!" April crossed her arms.

"Oh, sign it and get rid of him!" June pulled a pen out of her pocked and handed it to her.

April grumbled and snatched the ticket from him. "Whatever."

"Goodnight, ladies." He zoomed away without ever getting off his bike.

"I've never seen a hover bike around here before." June raised an eyebrow. "How much was that ticket worth?"

"Fifty. He probably had nothing better to do." April climbed behind June on the motorcycle and hugged around her waist. "My feet hurt."

"That's ok. Spare helmet in back." June waited until April had her helmet secure. "And we're off."

"What's for food?" April asked.

"Spaghetti with cheese sauce."

"Mmm… Sounds wonderful."

* * *

The next morning, June shook April awake. "Wake up, time to go to school."

She barely opened her enormous eyes. "You go to school, I go to sleep."

"Are you still upset over last night?" June sat on the side of the bed.

"I don't want to cause any more trouble, and you know I get carsick."

"Oh, you can run." June touched her long nose. "That meanie popo man was just being a bogus bully. You're not scared of bullies now, are you?"

April shook her head, groaned, and sat up. "I'll be down in ten."

"Make it five, or frozen waffles for breakfast."

"Ugh." April kicked the blanket at her. "I'm up! Now leave so I can get dressed."

"I'm gone." June closed the door and headed down stairs. In the kitchen, she made two large waffles and cleaned the waffle iron.

April thumped down the stairs. "So we get to have waffles anyway? Where's the deal here?"

"Peanut butter? Or honey?" June held up two jars.

"Chocolate." April dug the bottle out of the fridge while June spread her own waffle with the things she wanted.

They ate together. Then while June brushed her hair, April tied her running shoes. Although April's hair was long, it seemed to never need brushing no matter which way the wind was blowing.

"You ready?" June pulled on her leather jacket by the front door.

"Wait! Game tonight!" April bounded up the stairs for their uniforms and was down twenty seconds later. "Catch," she tossed June her cheerleading uniform.

"Thanks for remembering." June stuffed her uniform in her back pack and opened the door.

They got to school without incident, much unlike the game that night.

* * *

Tails flew low and as fast as he could through trees and bushes and over every land obstacle he saw. Glancing back, Sonic was still behind him, so Tails held tighter to the orange handkerchief and laughed. Looking ahead again, he zoomed onward until he flew to the top of a tall redwood tree. "HA! HA! I win! Sonic?" Tails looked around. From his vantage point, Tails spotted Sonic a ways off and flew back towards him.

Sonic stood in a semi open area in this little wood. He closed his cam com. "We _really_ need a more secure network for these things."

"What's wrong?" Tails landed. "I hope I don't need to reset the frequency again."

"Egghead called again."

"_Again_?" Tails's eyes widened. "What was it this time?"

"Probably nothing." Sonic picked a lose piece of bark off a tree. "He was just rambling about, of all things, basketball."

"Basketball?" Tails thought about it. "Last time he called us, it was to brag about his latest achievements. You know, after he…"

"Kidnapped me and dunked me in water? True." Sonic flicked the shred of bark away. "But we know for a fact that he's still licking his wounds from last time. I doubt he accomplished much, if anything."

"What exactly did he say?"

"Not much. He said," Sonic insultingly imitated Eggman. "'Good morning, Sonic! Have you read any sports pages recently?' and I said, 'Can't chat right now, Egghead. I've got to catch up with Tails.' And he said, 'Bad luck. Anyway, I have found an interest in sports, specifically, high school basketball.' And then I told him, 'Eggman, you know very well that the only sport I really care about is running! Why even bring it up?' But then he said, 'You are right. I should keep my secret plans to myself more often.' Then he cut the line, and you showed up. I was hoping he'd say more, but I guess not. By the way," Sonic jumped and grabbed the orange hanky from Tails. "Gotcha."

Tails laughed. "Very funny, but I've already been to the tree."

"Rats!" Sonic threw the orange cloth on the ground. "Just like Eggman to ruin everything."

Tails pointed to the handkerchief. "Why did you 'hide' it on top of a big rock?"

"Because I thought you wouldn't be able to see it." Sonic reached up into the tree and pulled down a blue handkerchief. "Why did you hide yours in such an open spot?"

"Because it was easy to get to. And Sonic, next time you hide something from me that's bright orange, don't put it in a place that you could see from the air."

"Oh, right." Sonic smirked. "I guess I was going easy on you."

"So, what are we going to do about Eggman?"

"I don't know. We should probably crash his little party before it starts."

Tails nodded. "Which means that we need to go home and look for any Eggman interesting high school basketball games going on today."

Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "Right on, Little Bro!"


	5. Chapter 5 Party Crashing

Party Crashing

April jumped and swished another hoop.

"Nice." Vivian took a step forward and rebounded the ball back to April. "Wish you could teach the rest of us how to do that."

"Do what? Ten for tens?" April bounced the ball then shot again.

_Swish!_

Vivian caught the ball, cocking her head with her eyes closed. "You hear that?"

April giggled. "Like the sound of a hundred angles singing, and heaven's bells ringing…

"Or in our case, the crowds cheering and the buzzer buzzing."

"Swish! Give." April held up her hands.

Vivian bounced the ball to her. "So… Luck, or skill?"

April took a step back, glanced at the basket, closed her eyes, and shot.

_Swish!_

"Skill, definitely," she answered. "Say, I think I hear the bus."

"Let's go watch." Vivian grabbed the basketball and dribbled it as she walked along.

April pointed to the ball. "Do we really want to scare them?"

"Yaw, that's why I brought it." Vivian pushed the door open and they walked outside just as the foreign bus turned into their parking lot. "You know, you can really creep the rest of us out sometimes. How you can smell, see, hear, and shoot better than the rest of us."

April smiled up at her. "Do I_ look_ like a human?"

"Not particularly to me, I wouldn't ask a question like that within ear shot of your family. Especially not that Augustus fellow you've told me about." She smiled as the big yellow bus turned into the gate. "Here they come." Vivian casually dribbled the ball as she walked to the bus door.

The doors opened. A pompous papa's princess with a sharp nose and yellow pony tail stared down at them. "What are _you_ supposed to be?"

Vivian held up her scratched, asphalt dusted hand. "I'm team captain of the Jaguars. Welcome to the jungle, Babe."

"Not you, that." The polished girl pointed to April with a carefully manicured finger nail. "_That_."

"I'm center, and I'm going to help defend our home turf tonight. But, you Rocketeers are more than welcome to challenge us. We could use the exercise." April smirked and crossed her arms, rocking back on her heels.

"What's the hold up, Britney?" the bus driver asked.

She stepped onto pavement with shiny, pink, three inch heels. She held up a pink cloth up to her wrinkled nose. "I don't care what position you play. _What_ are you?"

"She's never seen a hedgehog before, April." Vivian bounced the ball a couple of times. "You'd think she'd know one when she saw one."

Their basketball team slowly slumped out of the bus, one by one. One of the girls was a green monkey who lifted her glasses to stare at the sky line. "Not much of a jungle you home grown team got going on here, huh?"

April snapped her fingers. "Oh, I get it! You guys are from the upside of Sunnydale, where there is no down town and no ghetto. Life gets served to you on a ceramic platter, and mistakes become simply another way of doing things."

A border collie jumped off the bus and started slapping hands with her team mates. Another group was forming around them, the homies.

Vivian eyed the border collie and monkey girl. She turned her attention back to Britney. "So, you on the team or you just one of homies?"

Britney looked over her shoulder. "You're smart. Count them."

"I already did, and Vivian, we have an easy game tonight." April slapped her on the back. "Brit the nit is on the team."

"You like friendly little insults don't you?" Britney shifted her pink cloth to her face again. "How many would it take to send you crying to your hedgy mommy and daddy?"

"I doubt you could count that high Sis. You see," April pointed to herself. "I'm the only, that you see. But if you want to meet my parents, they currently reside in the York Provence Resting Grounds. And I make it my day job to prevent suicide on my turf."

"Yeah, that's April for you." Vivian patted April's head. "Strict, straight, to the point, but still has breathing room."

"Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome." April replied sarcastically. Then pointed to a small, gray, standalone building covered in layers of mildew. "If you need to adjust your makeup before five, the johns are right over there. Wouldn't want you to look anything but perfect before you get your face all sweaty and stinky."

"You are _way_ too kind. We'll be able to do all than in the locker room. Where would we find that?" Britney looked around.

April and Vivian both pointed to the same place as before.

"Charming," was the reply.

* * *

_"EEEAAARRRKKK!"_

The ref blew his whistle and tossed the basketball high in the air. April and the monkey both jumped for it, April's hand landing first. The ball landed in the hands of a Jaguar, and she dribbled towards their goal net until the border collie Rocketeer got in the way and forced her to stop. The Jaguar chest passed the ball to a team mate, who swiveled her way around three Rocketeers before being stopped by the border collie girl. So she jumped and threw the ball to Vivian, but the monkey on the other team jumped unbelievably high and intercepted the ball ten inches from the backboard.

April put herself between the monkey and the other team's basket, but the Rocketeer monkey passed to the border collie quite soon after the interception. So April aligned herself, but kept running. The border collie didn't feel the ball on her next bounce so she ran back and tried to steal back from behind. April saw her coming, and quickly switched hands and spun out of the way, causing the Rocketeer to body slam a Jaguar.

The ref blew his whistle with an ear splitting ring, and Coach pointed to April for a free shot. But April knew she was too far away, so she pretended like she was going to go for in until everyone else was good and far back. Then she sprang for the hoop like lightning, breaking only when monkey girl threw her arms up. April bounce passed the ball to Vivian, who caught it this time and preformed a layup. The ball hit the far corner of the square and bounced out on the other side. Another Jaguar rebounded the ball, passing in to April as monkey girl switched targets. April made a perfect three point shot with her path clear.

He blew hard on his whistle again. April and Vivian ran back a ways together.

April uncapped her ears when the whistle stopped. "If there's _one_ thing I hate about basketball…!"

"I know what you mean." Vivian flexed her fingers.

The Rocketeer girl threw the ball to border collie. Border collie twisted around and zigzagged her way between the outstretched arms until she was half way down the court and met April again.

April flawlessly stole the ball from right under her hand and sent it to her team mate, the only player of either team close to their goal net. The girl made a two point shot with no one to guard her. Ref screeched on his whistle again.

"Why do they clump together like little kids?" Vivian asked.

"Their animal team members are the only ones who know what they are doing." April took a deep breath. "Collie runs and Monkey jumps. Did you notice that?"

The ball bounced in.

"Nope!" Vivian ran back some more.

Again, the ball was in the hands of the border collie, and again she got stolen from by April. April bounced the ball to the tallest Jaguar, who faked the monkey and made the shot.

The whistle shrieked again. The Rocketeer coach called for a time out. April gathered with her team on the home side of the court.

Coach brought the team into a lose circle. "You guys are doing great! Six to nothing! Keep it up everyone! Good shooting Stacy and Vivian. Nice one on one Betty. Excellent steals, April. And those were some superb passes Joan."

"Thanks, I feel appreciated." Joan waved her hands at her face.

"I've seen the way they play, and I know exactly what their pattern is. Everyone passes to the dog, Jennet. Jennet is fast, but she can't shoot. The monkey Tabatha can jump, so she's probably their shooter. Keep an eye on those two especially."

"Will do, Coach!" Vivian saluted.

"BREAK!" The other team all clapped once, the noise resounding in the gym.

Coach glanced over across the court. "Now get out there and make our school proud! One, two, three."

"JAGUARS!" April's team shouted together.

Ref blew his whistle and motioned for Rocketeers to take it in.

A Rocketeer girl stood out of bounds with the ball and passed it to the border collie.

"Again?" April grumbled and rubbed her hands together. She got into triple threat position and moved herself in the way of border collie.

At the last possible instant, border collie bounced the ball to a girl on her right. She was so quick about it, April had already gone for the swipe. She stumbled forward and landed on her hands as the ref squealed the whistle yet again.

"Why did we lose that one?!" Vivian held her hands out, staring at the score board.

"She put up an elaborate fake. Passed it just in time." April shook the sting out of her hands. "It won't happen again."

Coach was about to call for a time out, so Vivian shook her head at him. "We'll get them."

One Jaguar passed to another, who passed to April and she took it down about a third of the court before having to dodge the border collie again. On the other side of the half court line, border collie was in her face again so April passed the ball away. The Jaguar tried to pass again, but a Rocketeer got her way and was running back the other direction.

April bolted for a steal, as this time there was no one around the girl with the ball. Then something caught her ankle and threw her to the ground. She looked up and saw the boarder collie, then felt a sharp pain in her left foot. April bit her lip, but some bogus tears still rolled from her eyes. The ref's whistle angrily added to her agony as all the other Jaguars crowded around.

"Are you ok?"

"What a bully! That was foul play!"

June's face pushed the others away. "APRIL! Are you hurt?!"

April blinked to see better and nodded, still biting her lip.

June knelt beside April and scooped her up in her strong arms and sat her on the bench. Someone fetched a bowel and an ice bath for her foot, then play continued. April rubbed her eyes and saw the border collie sitting beside her. "Shouldn't you be on your _own_ side?"

"They sat me here until I apologized, but I like watching you suffer better."

April glared at her. "I feel sorry for you, if the only way you can take joy is through other's pain."

She sneered. "It felt good."

"I didn't think it felt good." April shivered and reached for her team sweater. "Why?"

Jennet's eyes narrowed. "Because there isn't enough room for _two_ stars in here."

April blinked.

"I'm done here." She stood up. "Sorry." She said it with as much scorn as her high pitched voice could carry, and then some. Then she walked around the game to the other side.

The ref's whistle blew again at another two points for the Rocketeers. April sat still and relaxed a bit, but still frustrated about not being able to play. She wasn't a bit phased by Jennet's attack on her character. She had seen it all by now, heard every insult, seen every gesture, but still she stood strong. That was, until the roof caved in.

Or rather, the roof was lifted. Someone started to shout, but it was mistaken for a cheer. Then the giant's hand was seen out the window, and its footsteps where felt in the floor and in the bleachers. With a terrible noise, glass shattered, wood splintered, concrete crumbled, and metal groaned. "PEEK A BOO!" An evilly terrifying voice echoed again and again in the hollow walls of the gymnasium until it struck some form of fear into the heart of every player and patron of the game. Roof debris rained down on the people closest to that end of the gym, yet someone still seemed to have the gall to pull out their cell phone and take a movie.

Then there was heard a _BA-BOOM!_ And half the remaining windows shattered in their sills. The giant was thrown backward as though punched in the face by an invisible fist. "YOU HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG!" the giant's voice shouted.

Everyone poured out the nearest safe exits, then began to gather around the scene. June scooped up her sister on her way out. From outside, it was clear what had happened. As unlikely at it may have been, they, _they_ had been attacked by none other than the infamous Dr. Eggman himself! A quiet public high school basketball home game had been attacked! And by the number one most infamous face in the world! That part would never believed by those who weren't there. But the part that they told again and again was when Sonic the Hedgehog shattered the windows to come to their rescue. Just thoom thoom thoom and the giant was on the ground, a broken pile of scrap metal.

Such cheering put the basketball game to shame as Eggman's Eggmobile rose from the wreckage shouting something said a thousand times. "I will have my revenge, Sonic!"

"Yeah whatever!" Sonic, standing tall and proud from the robot's enormous belly, waving at the retreating dot. "Hey Eggman! You forgot to pick up after yourself!"

But Eggman was too far away to respond. The people came closer to the giant robot. Clapping and cheering and waving, then some going wild as he waved back. Tails was seen moments later, and he also waved. The crowd cheered and waved back.

Sonic slid down the side of the giant's belly. "Got any popcorn left?"

Lots of people laughed, as the game was obviously over.

"Ah, just kidding. Is everyone ok?" Sonic stepped to the side as Tails landed.

Nods and mumbles of wellness rippled through the crowd.

Tails turned his head in April's and June's direction. He started coming over.

April whispered, "June, put me down, quick!"

June carefully set her on her good foot.

"I hope that isn't Eggman's fault," Tails nodded at her injury.

"I'll live," April responded.

"'Twas foul play." June stroked April's hair. "But she's tough, and we'll boot her back on the court in no time."

"Does anyone have any clue why Eggman was here tonight? Anyone?" Sonic followed his little buddy as the people shook head. "I'm open to guesses."

"Maybe he wanted in on the fun," Vivian suggested.

Sonic snickered. "Maybe, but I sort of doubt it."

"Well, if that no good basketball bubble bursting bastard ever dares to show his face around here again," April nodded. "We'll give a holler."

"Or we'll be hollering," someone suggested.

"Whatever the case," Tails started to fly. "Keep an eye out."

Sonic jumped and caught Tails's hands. They flew off out of sight.

Someone came over and tapped April on the shoulder. When she looked, it was Jen. "Well, you've met him now, and he took special note of you. What do you think?"

"I think you should save it for the wimpy ones, Jen. Stop wasting your breath on me! Let's go home, June." April jumped up into her sister's arms again.


	6. Chapter 6 Letters

Letters

_Dear Sonic,_

_Do you remember my sister and my cousin that we met at the fair? Well, my cousin is getting married, and they asked me to light the candles. So I'll be staying with my family a little longer than I had hoped possible! I'm sure I'll be home soon though._

_Do you like the picture on this postcard? I thought of you when I picked it out. I miss you! Love, Amy Rose_

* * *

_September 10, 3233_

_Dear diary,_

_And I thought the last game we'd had had been a disaster. Why in the world was I afraid of a little embarrassment? Tonight, Dr. Eggman destroyed our entire gym half way through the first quarter. It was a good thing Sonic the Hedgehog showed up to take care of that though, not so good that he talked to me. Why me?! Oh wait, I have a twisted ankle. Jen teased me about 'my secret crush' again. Somehow I just don't get that girl. She knows that I always end up winning our little spats, and that she usually ends up more embarrassed than she tried to make me feel. So why is she constantly picking on me? I haven't the slightest idea._

* * *

**Log: 9-10-33 1900 Hours CST**

**Commence Recording:**

Today did not go as planned. That annoying blue pest got in the way, AGAIN! And just when I was so close too! As most of the time, Sonic won this round. But he doesn't win every time, and I am going to win tomorrow! Perhaps I should try a less expensive, more direct approach to accomplish my goal. Tonight I go and remove what is mine from that school campus so they don't give it to someone who will study my technology. Sonic was right, for once and only once. I should recycle more often. End log.

* * *

_September 11 3233_

_Dear Diary,_

_It turns out than my ankle sprain was just a really bad bruise. So until I can run again, June is driving me on her bike. Last night's game was ended at 6 to 5 in our favor, barely, and all home games and indoor PE activities have been canceled until the gym roof can be rebuilt. So for practice today, Coach made us except me run all around campus. I practiced free throws, and as usual, 10/10 average. Vivian asked and he said that arrangements are being made to reserve the local public basketball court on A days. Then he said, "Pack a heavy coat, because it's going to get cold!" I'm glad it's now the weekend. Also, the robot wreck mysteriously was gone this morning, I asked around, but no one knew anything._

* * *

_Dear Sonic_

_We're about move. I remember moving a lot. Gypsies never stay in the same place for too long, just like you. Well, almost. What's been happening? Oh wait, this is another post card. When you write back, send it to the Falling Star Motel in the Pine Mountain area. I'll go there to pick it up. I miss you. Also, when we get there, I'll be going by Addie Rose. Like? We used to always change names whenever we went somewhere new. It'll be strange, for me too. I've been going by Amy so long, I guess I didn't think about changing it. Did you know that my __name was Pinky before it was Amy? But everyone called me Rosie the Rascal because I was so mischievous._

_Love, Addie (Amy) Rose_

* * *

**Log: 9-13-33 800 Hours CST**

**Commence Recording:**

April Tailor is proving much more difficult to capture than I had previously calculated. Two days ago, she rode with her adoptive sister on a motor vehicle to school. There is no school on weekends, apparently. But I find that as more information is gathered, the more I am convinced. If true, I can then use her to force Sonic to give me the Chaos Emerald I require to finish his doom. I will try again tomorrow. End Log.

* * *

_Dear Amy,_

_It's almost regrettable to say that almost nothing has happened since you left. But that's not to say it's been boring. Egghead somehow managed to conjure up a giant robot looking like you can guess who. Then he tore half the roof off a high school gym in the York Province. Tails and I did manage to get there before anyone was hurt. Well, there was one who was hurt, but that had happened before Eggman arrived. There had been a basketball game going on, and I guess the players got a little too violent with each other. After we destroyed the robot, I told Eggman to pick up his trash, but he just flew away._

_About those pictures, have you ever seen them for real? Sonic._

_P. S. Cream misses you._

* * *

_Dear Amy!_

_Oh how I miss you! Cheese started to cry when Mr. Sonic said you'd gone away, and so did I. But then he said that you'd be back very soon! Please don't make it too long, because I'll very soon get sad of having tea parties with just Cheese and Mr. Bear. Mr. Bear never says much any way. I miss you! Please tell me about your famile. And please be sure to bring invite your sisters to come with you so that we can have one big giant tea party together when you come home! I miss you! Not even Mother can make easy books as interesting as you do. I really miss you. Cheese missed you too. Love, Cream and Cheese._

* * *

_Dear Sonic,_

_I almost feel sorry for you! It must be boring not having Eggman's huge robots to bust around. Not so sure about that basketball thing you described. Why did Eggman attack them? My cards told me that Eggman didn't get what he wanted, so you should probably keep an eye out. I wish I could send a pictures with these postcards. Then I could show you the dress Mom is making me! Be sure to write back! Amy Rose._

* * *

_Dear Cream,_

_I really miss you too. My **one** little sister is a lot like me when I was your age, and my older **cousin** is getting married soon. I think our mother's would like each other, and yes, I'll see what I can do for a tea party. Tell Mr. Bear "Hi" for me, and give Cheese and your mom hugs. Oh, and tell your mother to help you read a book called, "Choose Your Own Adventure". I know there are a ton of books like that, but believe me when I say that they don't get old easy. Be sure to read the instructions carefully. Hi Cream! I'm Rosy's sister! So that's what I get for standing up for two seconds. Oh well. Lots of hugs! Amy._

* * *

**Log: 9-16-33 1000 Hours CST**

**Commence Recording:**

I am really beginning to get fed up with these little games of invisible chase. Every morning I have to wake up early to see if that almost worthless little injured brat is running alone or not! I've never felt this tired since I was still going to school myself. A thought just dawned on me! I have never seen Sonic go to school at all! And how did his friend that little yellow fur ball get so smart anyway? I know he certainly didn't receive as fine scholars of science to outdo, such as I, because he doesn't go to school either! How then? I ask. Anyway, all this down time is giving my superior brain up time to calculate just exactly the best way to present myself when the day arrives. How shall I do it? I'll have to scare the little purple pine cone. And knowing by now that it is quite impossible to even phase the blue pest, I'll have to use her as bait. In the meantime, I should probably be getting back to constructing those cylinders. End log.

* * *

_September 16, 3233_

_Dear Diary,_

_Another day, another game missed for medical reasons. Don't get me wrong, I was there! And June said that I cheered like none other. We actually won the game! Of course, the other team was another one of those 100% human ones. Not that anything is wrong with that, only weak. Just kidding June! I love you, even if you happen to be reading my diary without permission! Remember the black belt! Anyway, tomorrow I think I'll run again. Oops! Dad's calling for supper. GTG!_


	7. Chapter 7 Founder's And Lake

Founder's and Lake

April pulled tight the laces of her running shoes.

"Are you sure?" June zipped up her leather jacket.

"Are you running out of barf bags?" April zipped up her own jacket, a wind breaker to match her wind breaker pants. She jumped up and bounced on her toes, secretly putting more of her weight on her right foot. "See? It doesn't even hurt to bounce anymore."

"If you say so." June opened the front door and closed it after April.

"Just no race today, ok?" April rotated her sore left foot as June locked the door behind them. "I'm taking it easy."

"That's perfectly fine with me." June led them to the driveway, where just the motorcycle was parked. She unlocked one of the boxes and put her backpack inside.

April sent her bag to phantom land. "Come on, Sis! Race or no race, we don't want to be late! Let's get this show on the road!"

"Whatever you say, Sister!" June's motorcycle suddenly revved to life and she was off.

"Yeah, whatever." April started out on a slow jog for her. No more than twenty. She'd get to school in just under twenty minutes, and this morning June had made sure they had thirty. Besides, there was no reason to hurry, and nothing spectacular was to go on today. She sighed in contentment.

As April exited the residential area, she turned onto Main and jogged in the bike lane. Some people waved as she passed by, only because the only animal in this town was a very distinct and familiar sight. At the corner with the fast food market, April crossed the street and turned followed Lake Ave, a left turn. The fast food faded into drug and liquor stores, and then those faded into one of many less fortunate neighborhoods in town. Then she came upon Founder's St, where there was half a vacant lot next to an old run down tattoo parlor. The owner of the parlor was creepy, covered in his merchandise and always offering one to April whenever she passed by. But for some reason, the place was closed today. _Well, good riddance for now!_

A ginormous metal beast appeared in front of April. "EEAAHH!" she screamed, and skid to a stop.

"Hello, little sporting star." The voice was vaguely familiar, but still terrifying to listen to. "Going somewhere?"

April snapped her phone back into the real world and flicked it into text mode. Whoever she had texted last was about to get a surprise. Much without thinking, she took a picture of the giant metal spider like beast blocking her way.

"Oh no! None of that, dear!" One giant claw darted forward.

April ducked and side rolled out of the way. She whirled around and ran back towards the tattoo parlor to get a picture of that sign. A sharp claw materialized in front of her again, and she screamed. _Send!_ She glanced down to see how much was sent.

'Sending... Sending... Sending... Send-Message Sent', then the cell phone exploded.

April yelled again, this time from the pain of suddenly holding a liquid plastic fireball in her bare hand. She waved her arm around, crying under a bit lip. When she opened her fist, her palm was red with blood and her fingers lumping with juicy blisters. She knelt in the scorched grass, broken and pathetic.

"You are a very special little rat, did you know that?" The voice asked.

April closed her eyes. Yes, she had heard that voice before. Just a few days ago. It was the same voice that had torn off half the gym roof and crushed a third of the cars in the parking lot. She just couldn't remember the name.

* * *

June blinked as her phone vibrated in her pocket. _You know, whoever you are, I don't have a hand to text and drive a motor cycle at the same time. Sorry, but it'll have to wait._

* * *

"What now?!" Sonic pulled himself and Tails to a slow halt on the side of a small mountain. He flipped open his cam com. "Oh great, it's Egghead again."

Tails groaned. "Whatever it is, Eggman, it had better be more important than last time!"

"Greetings, Fur balls! Are you having a nice climb?" Eggman's ugly face took up all of the tiny screen.

Sonic glanced to his right, where Tails shrugged back at him in the matching rock climbing gear. "Not much of a race, seeing as we're working together. Why, have you got something more interesting for us to destroy than that lame joke you had going on last week?"

"Sorry, you'll have to shop somewhere else for your entertainment."

"We did," Tails replied, lifting up the string for his chalk bag.

"Whatever." Eggman shrugged. "Sonic, I have someone very interesting here that you might like to meet. Allow me to introduce, your sister!" The view changed to a cowering purple dot in the middle of the screen. You couldn't tell exactly what she looked like, as she was hunched over.

Both Sonic an Tails busted open with laughter. Sonic recovered first, slapping the rock face with his other hand. "Dude, Egghead! Or should we call you Dimhead? I don't have a sister!"

"Too bad, because I thought you really cared for people. What you think makes no difference to me. Shall I hasten your arrival?" The tiny purple person in the picture looked up, then jumped up pressing her back against the curved inner surface of a clear tube.

"What was that?" Tails stepped closer so he could see better.

"Right now," Eggman was sounding very pleased with himself. "That tank is slowly filling up with water, drop by drop. Imagine how…"

Sonic closed the cam com. "Looks like we've got someone to go rescue."

"Do you think it could be true?" Tails slightly loosened his grip on the rope, sliding down until the closest ledge. "About that girl being your sister?"

"Not a chance." Sonic waited until Tails was stable, before practically letting go and falling down the rope.

"Whoa!" Tails grabbed the rope, causing Sonic to stop.

Sonic fell backwards and hit his helmet on the wall just above the ledge. "Whoa!"

"Sorry. I reacted too soon." Tails helped Sonic get back into a standing position. "Good thing we were both wearing helmets."

"Good thing." Sonic slid out of his mountain climbing gear and left it hanging on the rope. "Hurry up!"

"I'm hurrying!" Tails loosened a strap, started to step out, then began to trip.

Sonic grabbed his end of the rope and pulled to keep Tails from falling off the ledge.

Tails caught his balance. He leaned against the wall. "You should go ahead. I'll catch up."

"Ok, will do." Sonic jumped and spun down the rest of the rock face.

* * *

Eggman floated into the 'guest' room, riding in the Egg-mobile. "Well, he's on his way!"

"Who are you!?" April stomped in the thin puddle at the bottom of this tube she was in, wincing a bit and cradling her right hand.

He raised a bald eyebrow, genuinely confused. "I know who you are, don't you know who I am?"

April scanned him up and down. "Sure. You're a fat human in a red coat. Shall I call you Santa Claus?"

Eggman's grin flattened out slightly. "You're just a filthy pincushion! Shall I call you 'Rodent'?"

She giggled. "'Rodent'? _That_ has got to be a new one for me. Bush Pig, Spiny, Marshmallow Roaster, even Popsicle Stick. But I think 'Rodent' is a new one."

"Are you so easily amused?" Eggman folded his hands and leaned forward on them. "Because I could arrange for a toy boat for you to play with, seeing as that puddle is getting deeper."

"Sure, and while you're at it, get me some water skis too. It's been while since I went water skiing."

"Have you ever tried water sinking? Because if not, here's your big chance."

"Oh yes! But it's more fun down south where there are the warm oceans and coral reefs. You get to see a lot of interesting fish down deep."

"Aren't you afraid of sharks?" Eggman asked.

"They're the ones who need a cage to safely view _me_ by." April responded, starting to impatiently slosh her foot.. "You know, I could do this _all_ day."

"And I could do this all day AND all night! Too bad you won't be alive that long, if he doesn't show up in time!" Eggman checked a time display.

"Oh yeah? Well, I've been doing it all day and all night for pretty much my entire life. How long have you been doing it for?" April crossed her arms, glancing down as the water line soaked the top of her socks.

"Since long before you were born! Ah!" Eggman squished a beeping perimeter alert. "Just in time."

April looked up when she heard a commotion upstairs. "What is that?"

Eggman grinned. "He's here!"

A matching version of April's tube descended from the ceiling, containing a bright blue hedgehog. When it locked into place, he wrapped his knuckles on the inside surface. "Reinforced Plexiglas Eggman? What, are you afraid I'll try to hit you or something?"

"Welcome Sonic. I trust you had a pleasant duel with the badniks?"

"Those things _do_ get a little old." Sonic suddenly noticed the other tube. "Hey, aren't you…"

April nodded. "Yeah, that was me." She looked back at Eggman. "Yo! Sputnik! Your sputter spatter water spout is still springing a leak!"

"Yeah, Egghead! Turn that off! I'm here now, see?" Sonic tapped his foot.

"If you insist." Eggman turned off the water and opened the drain. "Now, shall we get down to business?"

April kicked the whirlpool. "Wait, your name is Egghead?"

"Only that_ thing_ calls me that." Eggman held his hand out towards Sonic. "You may call me Dr. Eggman."

Sonic nodded to the purple hedgehog. "On my authority and recommendation, you may call him Egghead."

"So that means that you think you're smart." April squatted and squeezed the bottoms of her pants with her left hand. Water trickled out.

"Yeah." Sonic chuckled. "Eggman does _think_ he's smart.

"So, does that mean I should call you smarty pants, or smart mouth?"

"Enough of this!" Eggman stood up.

April looked at Sonic. "Oops! Looks like I've made him mad."

"Nothing to it. In fact, I do it all the time." He snickered again.

Eggman growled. "Be quiet, both of you! Or else! Now, I've summoned you both here for your own benefit."

"Excuse my mocking laughter. HA HA HA HA HA!" Sonic smirked at him. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we Egghead? This is not my sister. I don't have a sister."

April giggled. "Is… Is that what this is all about?" She pointed a thumb to Sonic. "You thought _I_ what related to _him_?"

Sonic clucked his tong. "The bad doctor gets_ strange_ ideas sometimes."

Eggman sat back down. "Very well. I see I shall have to explain myself."

"There's nothing to explain! My parents are dead, and I know where they rest." April crossed her arms.

"If you _really_ did your homework Eggman, you'd know that I don't have _any_ siblings. And even if I did, don't you think they'd be as fast as me?" Sonic asked. "Believe me, both you and I would know it."

"Sonic," Eggman folded his hands slyly. "How fast were you before you first touched a Chaos Emerald? Or even a ring?"

"What's that got to do with it?"

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

Sonic took his time answering. "I don't know. Eighty? But that's…"

"And how fast are you now, April?" He swiveled the chair without moving his head.

"Well, I think the fastest I ever ran a mile was two and thirty. What are you getting at, Brain-sick?"

Sonic snickered at Eggman's constantly changing complexion.

"I wonder how fast you'd be able to run if I gave you just as much Chaos Energy as Sonic has now." Eggman clicked a few controls.

A ring of seven laser guns popped out of the floor around April's tube. She tensed and backed against the back of the tube again "Come again?"

Sonic recognized it, and it brought back bad memories of shameful nights behind the mask of the werehog. "EGGMAN! THAT COULD KILL HER!"

"WHAT!?" April's pupils vanished in terror.

"A shame if it fails." Eggman held up a thumb press remote, the kind with one button, and pushed it.


	8. Chapter 8 Struck By Chaos

Struck by Chaos

Six laser coils glowed, each a different color. Then Eggman sank his big fat thumb into the big red button on the Egg-mobile's dashboard. Last mistake he'd ever make concerning the integrity of his eardrums. Multi colored lightning zapped through the tube and into April, causing her to scream and howl like neither witness had ever heard before.

That girl possessed _quite_ the set of lungs.

Eggman ducked down into the Egg-mobile. "SHUT UP!"

April threw herself against the sides of the narrow tube, banging at the lightning with both fists, her palm burn bleeding all over the glass. "SHUT IT OFF! MAKE IT STOP!" She kicked and pounded on the floor, screaming and using choice words she didn't normal use.

Somehow, Eggman managed to pilot the Egg-mobile towards Sonic's tube. "DO SOMETHING, RODENT!"

"I'M TRYING!" Sonic, both hands occupied with squishing his ears down as much as possible, rhythmically jumped and kicked the side of his tube. He faced Eggman. "MAYBE IF YOU COULD TURN IT OFF!"

"THERE IS NO OFF BUTTON!"

April ripped up the grid floor of the tube and started jabbing where she saw Eggman's head, etching a web of superficial destruction on the interior of her prison.

Sonic crouched and spun against the side, but the Plexiglas threw him back to bounce against the other side. Sonic covered his ears again. "Wait a second," He put his hand against the inside of the tube as close as he could to the closest laser. "That's Chaos Energy!" He closed his eyes and concentrated on soaking up as much of it as he could.

The furious girl in the other tube locked eyes with the sourced of her misery. "I SWEAR I'LL TAN YOUR HIDE AS SOON AS I GET OUT OF HERE!"

Eggman ducked out of sight.

There was a small explosion, and the Plexiglas of Sonic's tube shattered. But the little blue hedgehog had turned bright yellow. Faster than it takes to blink, Super Sonic ran the ring of laser guns, picking them like flowers and throwing them away. "Hey Eggman!" In his hands where three each of the now severed cords used to power the lasers. "Look what I'm going to do!"

Eggman poked his head up. "I should never have asked for you to come."

"True, but odds are it still would have ended like this." Sonic touched the glowing ends together. For just one moment, every light, button, and control panel brightened, then there was a loud popping noise and everything became pitch black except for the glowing Super Sonic. He took a step back and punched the Plexiglas around April. "Come on!"

Exhausted, hyperventilating, and in shock, April allowed herself to be carried. "I don't want to go to school," she mumbled with a sore throat as she wrapped her arms around Sonic's neck.

There was a crash and a shout heard from above. Tails in the walking form of the Tornado appeared in the darkness. "Sonic!"

"Perfect timing, little buddy!" Super Sonic jumped up and deposited April in the passenger seat. She slid in and fell asleep instantly. Sonic jumped down and turned to Tails. "Anything still working up there?"

"No, they all suddenly exploded as I landed." Tails's face twisted in confusion. "If you went super, how come your eyes are still green?"

"Very strange. Well, maybe not. I did count only _six_ out of seven lasers working."

Tails opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head. "I'll ask later."

April opened her eyes and saw Super Sonic. "Are we all dead?"

As if in response, Sonic's transformation ended and he faded back to blue. "No."

The head lights of the Tornado had been on all the time. Tails turned them around and walked the Tornado out the same way he'd come in. They emerged just outside York province. "Where's your school, um…?"

"April," she crossed her arms. "6725 Seventeenth Street."

"We may not be familiar with your city," Sonic jumped down and kept pace with the Tornado. "But I happen to remember that your school was on a boulevard."

She glared at him, and raised her right palm. "Do I look like I can go to school today?! Do you think I'll be writing or dribbling a basketball any time soon!?"

Tails shrugged. "Very well." He turned the Tornado into town.

Shadow suddenly appeared in front of them.

Tails stopped the plane. "Shadow? What are you doing here?"

"What's up, Shadow old pal?" Sonic walked up to him.

Shadow nodded to Tails, then looked at Sonic. "A certain student from a high school in this city forwarded GUN a text containing two pictures, one of Doctor Eggman and the other of an intersection near here. It also said that the school had been attacked a few days ago, and that the sender's sister was a hedgehog. I was about to investigate, but it appears you have already done much more than that." Shadow shaded his eyes to see the smoldering ruins of a square, underground, Eggman lab.

Sonic laughed. "Looks like you were a little late." He held his hand up to the passenger seat.

The poor girl's head turned and she waved her left hand.

Shadow nodded. "That concludes my business here." He looked up to the passenger seat again. "It might be wise to inform your friends that you no longer require help. That way the emergency lines might be put to better use."

She blinked. "Didn't know I had so many fans. My cell is toast. Can I go home now?"

"It was good to see you, Shadow." Sonic shook Shadow's hand. "Even if we're too busy to have some real fun."

"Your idea of fun sometimes leaves much to be desired, Faker." Shadow backed off and held up the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos, Control!" A light flashed from the Emerald and when it was gone, Shadow was gone too.

April closed her eyes and sank back into the cockpit. "Not even going to ask."

* * *

After several minutes of hunting for April's house among so many others just like it, Sonic and Tails walked her to the door.

"Are you _sure_ you're ok?" Sonic asked. "He shot enough Chaos Energy into you to turn me Super."

April rolled her eyes. "No, I am not 'ok'. I am tired, and my throat hurts, and my hand hurts, and my foot still hurts. All I want is for things to return to normal. So if you don't mind!" she turned around on the front door step. "And if I ever see you, or any of your friends, it will be_ much_ too soon."

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances. Tails nodded. "If you ever do need help, just do what you did before and send GUN a text or give them a call."

"Bye." She snapped a key out of phantom land and unlocked the door with her left hand. Gently kicking the door closed, April made her way over to the house phone and dialed her mother. "Hi mom. I'm at home now."

"April dear! Your sister told me everything, but what happened?!"

"Freaky bad guy Dr. Egghead kidnapped me, and none other than_ Sonic the Hedgehog_ had to come to my rescue. Are we watching the news tonight?"

"Only if you want to, honey."

She shook her head. "I don't think I want to. I just want to go to bed."

"Probably a good idea. Get some rest, and you can tell us all about it later. Don't worry about calling your sister or the school, I'll handle that."

"Thanks, Mom. I love you!"

"I love you too sweetheart. Bye."

"Bye." April hung up the phone and slinked upstairs to bed.

* * *

When Father arrived home from work, they woke up the sleeping girl upstairs and sat down to supper. April poked at her pizza, ate a couple pineapple chunks off the top, and asked to go to bed again. In the morning, however, there a different story in the Tailor home.

"Come on! Come on! June! Wake up!" April jumped at the feet of her sister's bed.

June rolled onto her back and barely cracked open her eyes in the blinding light. "I'm dreaming. You're really my alarm clock gone crazy."

"Juuunnee." April jumped onto the floor and grabbed June's hand. "Come on! I made us hash browns!" She started tugging. "Hurry, before they get cold!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" June laughed and weakly pushed her sister away. "Would you hand me my leathers?"

April held them up. "Here they are."

June blinked. "That was fast. I thought they were down stairs."

"They were! I went and got them just now."

_Before she woke me up._ "Whatever little sis. Now get out of here so I can get dressed."

April ran out and closed the door.

June got dressed, brushed her hair, slung the jacket over her shoulder, and went down stairs. She noticed two Tupperware boxes on the kitchen counter. "Lunches? We still eat in the calf, right?"

"Those are for Mom and Dad." April put a plate of hash browns in June's hands.

June blinked. "You got up _really_ early. And I thought you weren't a morning person."

"I don't know _what_ got into me!" April picked up her plate and attacked breakfast with a fork.

"Whoa! Slow down with that! You eat too much too fast and you'll choke!"

"Oops, sorry." April put her fork on the side of her plate and took a swig of milk.

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! __Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

June set her plate on the table and ran back up stairs. The beeping stopped and she came back down. She gave her sister a weird look. "You got me up twenty minutes before my alarm?"

April shrugged and huffed. "Your breakfast was getting cold."

"A likely story." She rubbed her eyes. "No wonder I'm so tired," and yawned.

"I really don't know. I'm just hyper this morning." April finished the hash browns on her plate.

"You certainly weren't hyper yesterday... April? What time did you get up?"

"Not sure," she shrugged.

June sat down at her food again. "Because _I_ usually wake _you_ up and get _you_ moving, but today you woke me up, early, and scrubbed potatoes?"

April nodded. "I made Mom's and Dad's lunches while you were taking _your sweet time_ getting down here."

June raised her eyebrows. "And I suppose you washed the dishes while I turned off my alarm."

She laughed. "Nope, I did that after I was finished with the lunches."

"Ok." June ate her first bite of hash browns. "No short cut for you today."

April crossed her arms and let her lower lip sag.

* * *

Late that afternoon, April was the first one at the public court for basketball practice. "Howdy, Coach!"

"Well, well." Coach clapped his hands together. "Someone's in a chipper mood."

"Today's been a breeze, despite my sister. She wouldn't let me take the short cut." April picked up a basketball. "Say, this ball is the tiniest bit flat."

Coach's brow wrinkled. "Oh? And what gives you that idea? I pumped them all this morning, made sure they were all the same size."

"Well, this one won't bounce as high as the others. Try it!" She pressed it into his hands.

Coach bounced the ball. He was a six foot tall man, and the ball only came up to his hip if he pushed it down slightly harder than normal. He knelt and looked April in the eye. "Are you turning critical on us?"

She put her arms behind her back and tilted her chin down in a cute way. "Just saying."

He tossed the ball back in with the others. "No one will notice, it'll be our little secret."

"Secrets don't make friends! How much you want to bet no one will notice?"

Coach chuckled. "If you don't tell and no one notices, I'll buy you an ice cream. If you don't tell and someone does notice, I'll take the whole team out for ice cream. If you tell, I'll make you do two hundred consecutive jumping jacks after everyone else goes home."

"Deal!" April grabbed a better ball and started dribbling around the court.

* * *

One by one, all nine of the other team members arrived by foot or bike or skateboard. Each in turn, she picked up a random basketball and followed April in her circles around the court. About ten minutes after the last girl arrived, Coach blew his whistle. "Balls in the basket! Get in line!"

April ran up beside Vivian. "For once, that whistle didn't hurt my ears."

Vivian snorted and ran to find her place.

"It was a good game we had game last Wednesday night, you fought hard when we were at our weakest." Coach and several others nodded to the honorary cheerleader for that night. "But we still almost lost by one point. Would anyone like to tell me why? And don't blame it on our star."

A few hands went down, but Vivian smiled sadly and answered. "It was because of the chest passes, and because no one would listen to me."

Two of the girls looked down at their shoes.

"You nailed it." Coach pointed to her. "Therefore, we will begin today with bounce pass drills."

Everyone groaned. "Come on, Coach! That's baby stuff!"

Coach singled out the girl who'd complained. "Are you a baby?"

Her face turned pink. "No."

"Then it shouldn't be any problem for you." Coach addressed the whole team saying, "Get into two lines, one line should have a ball."

The girls formed into two lines of five, Vivian and April facing each other.

Coach blew his whistle.

Vivian slowly dribbled the ball, then bounced the ball to April. April dribbled and bounced the ball back.

"AHH!" Vivian ducked before the ball knocked her in the forehead.

"What happened?" Coach quickly walked over to them.

"That ball was about to take my head off!" Vivian turned and pointed when she heard the ball collide with the chain link fence.

April stood with her mouth open. "It was my fault, Coach. I must have given it too much force."

He nodded. "See to it that it doesn't happen again. Go get the ball." He turned around. "What's the hold up, ladies?"

The other girls stopped staring and continued with bounce passes.

April ran for the ball and came back to her spot. "I'm sorry."

"Forgiven. Let's have it!" Vivian made a target with her hands.

April bounced the ball a few times and gently sent it towards Vivian. It bounced first about half way, then again half the remaining distance, then again…

Vivian sighed, stepped forward, and kicked the ball into her hands. "Sometime today, next time?"

April stared at the ground. "Yeah…"

Vivian passed the ball back. April received it and bounced it with a little less force than last time, but not as much as the first time.

When the ball bounced twice, it was on the other side of the far fence.

Vivian watched it arch over her head, over the fence, over the browning flower bed, and finally bounce into the street. "April? Are you ok?"

Coach happened to glance their way and made his way over. "Where did your ball go?"

"Over the fence." April pointed sheepishly. "I swear! I used medium force this time! Not as hard as the first time, and not as soft as last."

"It bounced like three times last time," Vivian explained.

"I see." Coach put a hand on April's short shoulder. "What's up?"

"I've never felt better, Coach." She did not blink or look away.

His mouth twisted in thought. "Could this have anything to do with your little adventure yesterday morning?"

"I highly doubt it. This morning I woke up and I felt fine. I wasn't sore except for my hand, which otherwise looked completely better."

He thought again. "April, second degree explosion burns don't heal overnight. I want you to see a doctor before playing again, ok?"

"You're telling me to leave?" April took a step back.

Coach put his hand up. "Just, just get your parents to have you checked out, ok?"

She crossed her arms. "Fine."

"Let me write you a note." Coach turned toward the bench.

"Hey Coach!" Vivian held out her hands. "Who am I going to practice with?"

"Just sit tight, I'll practice with you." He casually wrote a note for April's parents, recommending that she be seen by a doctor, and handed it to her. "Hey,"

April spat through the fence into the gray flower bed.

"Two things. One, no unsportsmanship like manner, or you can say goodbye to your friends over there."

"I'm sorry." April met his eyes.

"Two," Coach patted her on the shoulder. "You'll always be a part of this team. I'm very sure everything's fine, just don't want any surprises. I care about you."

"Thanks Coach." April took the note he offered.

"You'll be fine." He opened the chain link gate for her.


	9. Chapter 9 Picnic

Picnic

Monday morning around 11 AM, June called Shadow, who ended up forwarding the call to Sonic.

"Hello?" Tails picked up the phone in Sonic's house.

"Um, hello. Sonic?"

"No, this is Tails. Who's calling?"

"I'm June Tailor, April Tailor is my sister. We're at the public basketball court near where we live. Nothing truly urgent, but would it trouble you guys to drop by?"

Tails covered the mouth piece. "Sonic!"

"Yes?" he answered from the small kitchen, a red and white checked sheet between his hands.

"Change of plans. Something's up with that April girl."

"I knew it." Sonic shook his head and sighed. "Tell them we'll be there in an hour ish."

"We can be there in an hour." Tails repeated into the phone.

"Perfect," and hung up.

Tails put the phone down. "What are you doing, Sonic?"

Sonic put a couple of extra plates in the picnic basket. "No one can be exposed to that kind of Chaos Energy and it not have some kind of effect on them. If I'm right, you should probably bring a radar gun and a towel."

"Ok," Tails walked to the front door. "A towel?"

"In case anyone_ accidently_ gets wet."

"What are we planning to do?" He opened the door.

"We have to teach April about what happened to her the other day." Sonic closed the picnic basket.

* * *

Sonic and Tails found the basketball court, with June at the top of a bleacher stand watching April miss free throw after free throw.

June, though hunched over in defeat, still portrayed with a crisp image a tall tough-looking girl with hazel eyes and short, sharply cut, brown hair, and holding a grudge against her sister's problems. She looked over her shoulder. "Thanks for coming. My sister is too stubborn to ask for help."

Tails sat on the cold metal bench beside June. "What's wrong?"

"Look, she's so at war with the world right now." June returned her gaze to the purple hedgehog in the basketball court. "Let me tell you a little about my little sister. She's been teased all her life for being the only animal in town, but she's been tough from day one. For every insult there's always a quip to turn it around. She could stay up all night, every night, yet when morning comes I have to virtually turn her room upside down and shake her out of bed to get her to wake. And she excels at Basketball, and has an average of perfect free throws from a cold start."

"Doesn't look like that now," Sonic remained standing.

"And that's what's making her so upset." June stood up and put her bare hands in her leather jacket. "She can't do any of it anymore. The other day, _she _was the one who woke _me_ up."

"Definitely the Chaos Energy." Tails nodded. "Dr. Eggman exposed April to very high levels of Chaos Energy. It's probably what's making her every shot so erratic."

"What does that mean?" June looked to Sonic.

"It means that she's got a ton of power inside that she doesn't know how to use or what to do with, lastly how to keep it under control. Permission to show your sis exactly what she can do?" Sonic looked back up. "But I'm gonna need to make her very, very, angry."

"Oh, that' easy." June shrugged. "Steal the ball."

* * *

April retrieved her 'lucky' basketball yet again from the corner. Depression was beginning to settle over her mind, as she was sure she'd never again be able to play. She stood at the free throw line and bounced the ball three times.

_Swish!_

A foreign black ball bounced perfectly under the basket. April turned around. "What are _you guys_ doing here?!"

Tails gave Sonic a high five. "We're practicing hoops!" Tails answered. "That was Sonic's first ever shot! What did you think?"

"I thought it was awesome! Your turn bud!" Sonic pulled another black ball out of a duffle bag.

April saw the ball sail over her head, heard the _swish_, and watched them celebrate. "You guys are at the half court line, you know that?"

"Is something wrong with that?" Sonic asked. He vanished for an instant and reappeared with both basketballs.

April closed her eyes at a short gust of wind. Then she looked up to her sister and pointed at the intruders. "YOU, LET THEM IN HERE!"

June cupped her hands around her mouth. "THIS ISN'T YOUR PRIVET PRACTICE RELM, IS IT?"

Sonic made another shot. "We're _good_ at this." He ran and caught the ball before it hit cement.

April rolled her eyes and walked over before Sonic made another shot. "You walked with the ball."

"What?" Sonic looked at her. "I wasn't walking, I was running!"

"But still, you held the ball while moving your feet. That's illegal."

"Are the police going to come and arrest me?"

"No, but the ref will blow his whistle on you. You have to dribble the ball, like _this_." April dribbled in a slow circle around both of them.

"Wow, I _totally_ didn't know that." Sonic made another shot and this time dribbled the ball back. "Like _this_?" he cocked his head, mockery in his voice.

"Yeah, like that." April crossed her arms and nodded.

"Here Tails, catch!" Sonic bounced the ball to Tails, who caught it. "What else can you teach us?"

"This is called a layup." April dribbled the ball up to the basket and aimed at the corner. It was a perfect shot, except the ball bounced away.

"That's a layup?" Sonic was holding her ball.

"Yes, except it makes it in."

"So like this." Sonic performed a perfect copy of April's shot and caught the ball after it went through the net. "But if my goal was over there because yours is here, then I'd go over there." He ran just passed Tails and made the ball go into the other hoop.

"Perfect." April jogged over there, opening her hands. "Now I start with the ball."

"Ok." Sonic bounced the ball to April.

She took it out and dribbled in, sprinting towards her basket.

"Oops!" Sonic flashed in front of her with his hand down, and the ball left with him. "Looks like I wanted it back."

"Illegal steal!" April shouted, pointing at him. "And a foul! You can only steal with your hands up. Come on, give it back."

"If you want it so much, why don't you just steal it back? I heard you were good at those." Sonic spun April's lucky ball on one finger.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," April positioned herself in her favorite spot for stealing.

Sonic ran passed and made another three point shot. "Missed me!"

"Let's try that again, coward! You didn't even come close to me!"

"I thought I was supposed to stay away from you, and you were going to come and get me!" Sonic dribbled in.

"Have it your way," April growled. She shot forward, but just when that ball was to be hers, it vanished into thin air. "Illegal use of your pockets!"

Sonic made the ball reappear out of phantom land and started dribbling again. "What? Is that what you call hammerspace?"

"Everyone else calls it that, but I call it phantom land." She went at him again as he ran away with the ball.

"Nice." Sonic crossed his arms after preforming another perfect shot.

She ran over and caught it before the annoying one decided he wanted it again. "One more thing to remember." April dribbled the ball and held her other hand out. "Basketball is a sport, but playing it is a dance."

"Dance?" He smirked. "I can dance."

"Not like I can, I'll bet!" April ran for the basket, but suddenly felt an absence. She turned around just in time to hear another _swish!_

"Did you see that?" Sonic asked, mockingly. "The ball was in the air before you even blinked! I think I'm really getting the hang of this _dancing_ thing!"

"ALRIGHT! THAT DOES IT!" April jumped, doing a back flip. When her feet hit the ground, they were wearing running shoes, as apposed to her previous basketball shoes.

"Nice trick!" Sonic winked at her, dribbling her ball again. "But I can tell that you really really want this, don't you?"

"That's my personal basketball, and you'd better give it back!"

"Or what?"

April didn't respond, she just bolted after him.

"OH YEAH!" Sonic ran around the court a few times, dribbling, then found the door and took her onto the the main road. "WOO-HOO!"

"Oh my." June stood up. "I've never seen her so fast before."

"Care to join us for a picnic?" Tails jumped and flew, holding down his hands.

"Sure." June reached up and grabbed both of his hands.

* * *

"YOU GET BACK HERE OR I'LL SLAM DUNK YOU ONE YOU WON'T FORGET!" April chased Sonic and her ball down the street.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sonic ran backwards, dribbling the ball so fast it would be toast before lunch time.

"COWARD!"

"You know, there's a few things about your running that are bothering me." Sonic put a hand on his chin. He slowed down until he was just out of arm's reach. "Number one, your fists are clenched. Open your hands. And you see how you're bobbing up and down? Bend your knees a little. Also, you are too tense. Relax a little, and you can go faster."

"Got any more advice, King of the Track and Field?"

"Just one," Sonic backed away, smirking. "Remember, it's _a dance_!"

April growled, but bent her knees, relaxed her shoulders, and opened her hands.

"Perfect! You're doing great!" Sonic gave out a thumbs up as he led her up a short hill.

Where they were now, April could see cars moving as fast as they were, and all going the same direction. One kid in the back seat of a white car opened his eyes really wide and stared. Then he took out his cell phone and held in against the window.

April put her hand on the window and tried to get ahead of the car.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked, the ball under his hand bouncing so fast it was virtually invisible. "Scared of having your movie taken?"

"HEERRR!" Suddenly, all April saw was Sonic's mocking grin, and her favorite basketball under his right hand. The edges of her vision blurred, and the cars around them slowed until it was like she and Sonic were running through them like an obstacle course.

"OH YEAH! NOW WE'RE TALKING!" Sonic faced forward and shot farther ahead.

She followed his every move until she suddenly found herself about to sink in the middle of a lake. Quickly, April slowed down and collapsed on a rock. Her head was spinning, and her heart pounded like there was no tomorrow. "Ouch… Why am I so," but she didn't know how to describe the feeling.

"That is what I like to call a running rush." Sonic's shadow covered the back of her head.

She looked up and saw hand to help her stand. April tried to get up by herself, but she wobbled and tipped back towards the water. Sonic caught her. "But, it was overcast today," April squinted in the bright light. "Why is the sun out all of the sudden? And where are…" She looked around and saw they stood on a concrete island with a sticky green lump in the middle of it..

Sonic grinned. "Welcome to Liberty Island."

April looked around. Yes, she was on a bump in _the ocean_ covered with sticky copper debris. Yes, there was salt in the air. Yes, the sun was out. Yes, they were a long ways from shore. She shook her head anyway. "Impossible! I can't run that fast."

"You can now, and here comes the proof." Sonic waved to Tails and June as they landed.

"Here," June handed her a radar gun, panting. "I almost promise you won't believe it."

April took it and found the display.

**352 MPH**

"Nu uh. No way." She shook her head again and threw it as far as she cold. "Impossible."

"Time to rethink possible. Yo, Tails! Where's lunch?" Sonic sat on the ground.

Tails watched the flying object splash down half a mile away. "Right here." Tails turned around and presented the picnic basket.

They all helped set up the picnic of hot dogs and chili, extra warnings on the killer chili.

"Oh, Sonic." Tails handed him an envelope. "I almost forgot."

He looked at it, then sent it to hammerspace. "Ok."

"Who's it from?" June asked, wrapping her dog in a slice of cheese.

"Amy," Sonic responded as he drowned his hot dogs in chili.

April shrugged. "I still can't believe that crazy old Santa Claus thought we were related."

Tails laughed. "Santa Claus?"

"Yeah," April set her plate down and used her arms to make it look like she had a fat belly. "You know, the fat old man in a red coat is Santa Claus."

June snorted, then started to cough. Then she leaned forward and held her hands over her face. "I think a chili bean is stuck up my nose!"

"Nasty. Get rid of it." April patted her sister on the back until it was gone. "Good girl."

"So, April." Tails picked up a chili dog. "What if you and Sonic really were related?"

"Tails, stop spreading lies." Sonic elbowed him slightly.

June coughed and shook her head. "Not likely." She sipped from a paper cup of water.

"Really?" April looked at Tails sarcastically. "Do he and I look _that_ much alike?"

Tails started looking back and forth between them.

"Buddy, stop that." Sonic put a hand on Tails's back. "You're starting to scare me."

"I'm sorry Sonic. It's just that…"

"Let's change the subject, shall we?" June suggested.

"Agreed!" April nodded. "I want to know _why_ you guys were really at the b-ball court. I don't believe you really wanted to practice shooting hoops."

"Very well." Sonic took another bite of his chili dog. "We heard that you were having a bad day."

Aprils sighed and leaned back on one hand. "Ok. I'm on extended leave because my doctor sent a note to my principal saying that I had post-traumatic stress disorder."

"Then why were _you_ there?" Tails looked at June.

"I'm playing hooky." June grabbed her little sister and pulled her close. "I've got to take care of my family. After all, nothing's more important to me than my little sister."

"That's good," Sonic said. "But maybe not the best idea to skip…"

April glared at him. "You were saying?!"

June sat up a little straighter. "I don't see _you_ belted down behind a desk either."

"Online," Tails responded. "We do some school stuff online in our spare time."

"But because Eggman keeps us so busy there's not a lot of 'spare time'." Sonic put the last bit of his chili dog in his mouth.

"So, does this picnic qualify as 'spare time'?" April asked.

Sonic shook his head, pointing across the sea.

Eggman in his Eggmobile was gliding towards them, and at his side was a hovering centipede. "PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR RIGHT TO PICNIC AMENDED!" His tiny voice scolded from across the open ocean.

Sonic stood up. "HA HA, NICE PUN EGGHEAD. IS THAT BUG BOT AS CHEAP AS YOUR JOKE BOOK WAS?"

"NONSENCE! THIS IS MY REVENGE FOR THE DEMOLITION YOU CAUSED ME!"

April shuttered. "He's upset over a haunted house?"

"You'd be surprised." Tails nodded.


	10. Chapter 10 The Finest Lace

The Finest Lace

Amy slid the picture inside, and glued the makeshift envelope closed. On the front she wrote Sonic's name and address. Then she carefully pealed a stamp from the sheet and stuck it in the upper right corner. "Finally, one that _isn't_ a post card."

"Finally what isn't a post card?" Gloria Rose showed herself in the door way.

Amy jumped, then silently slid the letter under her pillow. She leaned over the rail of her bunk bed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be helping Mom with supper."

"I came to tell you that supper's ready." Gloria, who had been Glossy last week, walked inside a few steps. "You didn't answer my question!"

"If supper's ready, let's go." Amy swung her legs over the rail and slid down, hitting the floor with a solid _thump!_

Gloria shuttered. "And that's why you are on top and I am on the bottom. Well?"

"Well what?"

"You didn't answer my first question!" she protested. Gloria stepped ahead and stuck out her arms to block the way. "Tell me what, or I'll tell Mommy, Daddy, _and_ Grandpa!"

Amy grumbled, and pulled her sister back into their bedroom. "No one likes a tattle tale, you know."

"Were you writing to Cream again?" Gloria plopped herself on the lower bed.

"How?... Oh yeah, you wrote in there without asking." Amy nodded. "Yes, I wrote a letter to Cream."

"Am I really a lot like you once were?" She cocked her head to one side. "I can't do tarot, and nothing big ever goes into hammerspace for me."

"I meant personality wise." Amy sat on a stool and put her elbows on the vanity. "I bet you're good at getting out of trouble."

Gloria giggled. "Tell that to Mother!"

"Rose! Rosie! Where are you? Dinner is served and getting cold!"

"We'd better go." Amy stood up.

"Addie?" Gloria led the way out of the door. "Are you jealous that I'm the flower girl and you're not?"

"Cream is more of a flower girl than I'll ever be!" Amy found her spot at the round table.

"Yeah, you like to break stuff with that hammer of yours. Thank you, Paul." Little Rose sat in the chair he'd pulled out.

"You are quite welcome, Gloria." He smiled, glowing. It seemed to Amy that he was always glowing.

"When are you going to choose a new name, Paul?" Madelyn May caressed his hand.

"As soon as that gleam on your finger becomes a gleam in your eye," he winked at her.

She laughed. "Are my eyes not gleaming enough for you?"

"When poets say, 'your eyes shine like the stars,' they do not know what they say." He mockingly stared through the roof. "If my eyes were like those which do little to brighten the night, I too would hide them during the day."

Everyone except Gloria laughed. "What? I don't get it. I thought to say someone's eyes shined like stars was a humongo complement!"

Grandpa chuckled. "Kids, play time is over. I'm afraid you have a younger audience to entertain here at the table."

"I want to hear more." Amy gently set her fork down and folded her hands in her lap.

Paul gazed into May's eyes and started to sing. "Sugar Babe, Oh Honey Sweet, You are my Candy Girl…"

Madelyn laughed so hard, she leaned over and dipped her face in biscuit gravy.

Aunt May smiled and shook her head. "You, son, are something else."

"Why thank-you, Mama."

* * *

"Addie?" Madelyn softly called from the cool mountain night.

"Up here, May." Amy waved from near the top of a tree.

"How did you get up there?"

"I jumped." Amy waited for her to climb up to the same branch with her, and they stargazed for a little while. "What's it like to be in love? Like true love that you and Paul have?"

She waited half a minute before responding. "All my dreams are nightmares, because being awake is so much better." She smiled back from the other side of the tree trunk. "But those dreams don't matter anymore. I'm living my real dreams. Well, most of them."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked right away.

Madelyn sighed. "I'd rather sing than act. You know those five minute street skits we do for money? I'd like it if we sang our way instead."

"I have another question, about money."

"I might have an answer."

Amy shifted her seat. "I've noticed that you… we don't get a lot of money from doing that, but my on-the-spot card draws don't make up for what I see in Grandpa's jar. Where does the rest of the money come from?"

She gave her an odd look. "I suppose not. You got too good at tarot before we could teach you how to pick a pocket."

"You _steal_ from people?" Amy felt a strange mix of guilt, anger, pity, and love for her unfamiliar family.

"I don't like it, but I'm not too good at it either. Gloria is better than me, but only on an average of one to five dollars. When Grandma was alive, she could pick the king's gold buttons right off of his cloak, or maybe the Chaos Emeralds right out of Eggman's latest machine, or maybe she might get the magical rings right out of your Sonic's hands when he was running with window rattling speed."

Amy giggled, then cried inside. "I don't remember Grandma that much, but I doubt the last one you said. I think, if she tried to do that, Sonic would grab her hand and put the rings in it."

May smiled. "Perhaps. But since the rest of us aren't any good at it, I say we completely ditch wasting our time and do something people would enjoy. That way, I might not get insomnia so often." She sank her head into her hands.

"May?"

"Hum?"

"What's it like to have someone love you back?"

"Didn't we already go over this?" She lifted her head again.

Amy looked away, back at the stars and started swinging her feet.

"Oh, I get it." Madelyn sat up straight again. "You got both eyes and one hundred percent of your heart and soul devoted to one guy and he shakes it off more often than not."

She nodded. "The so far only time we ever had a date planned, he completely missed it. Then he starts to tell me this fantastic story about a talking sword, and a wizard girl, and I don't know what else. He had most of our friends in there, including me. Honestly, with the time it took to come up with that story, he could've been on time."

Madelyn crossed her ankles during a short pause. "Perhaps if I knew more than your side of Sonic, I would be able to help you."

Amy sighed.

"But I can tell you this. Paul is my best friend, and we only got there by being just friends for a while. Then when we thought we might never see each other again, it was then we realized just how close our friendship was. So when we moved north again, he came with us."

She started to cry.

"It wasn't meant to make you cry, Darling!" Madelyn carefully scooted closer to Amy and gave her a hug. She held her for a minute, then lifted her chin. "Open your eyes. Now tell me, because I'm sometimes totally deaf, were you really asking what love was like? Or were you asking for tips?"

Amy rubbed her eyes dry. "I guess I need some help."

Madelyn scooted closer and put her arm around Amy's shoulders. "Ok, but you have to trust me. Now this is in general, mind you. First thing, you can't let him change you or you won't be truly happy. The second first thing, you can't go changing him, or it won't be real."

"A 'second first' thing?" Amy turned her head up slightly.

"Two things, just as important as each other." She winked. "And after you got those two straight, all you have to do then is watch it happen by itself."

"You mean, give up?"

"No, don't give up at all. Just be patient with it. Love doesn't like being rushed. Very rarely can it be rushed and not die. You see, falling in love is like blowing on a fire. You have to keep blowing to get it going, but not blow so hard you blow it out like a birthday candle."

"Thank you, May. I'll remember what you said." Amy shivered in the cold night air.

"Anything for you, Addie. It's getting quite chilly out. What do you say we go inside?"

"Sounds like a plan." Amy slipped down to the next branch, walked to a place where there was nothing below, and jumped the remaining fifteen feet to the ground. "You coming?"

"I'll take the old fashion route, thank you." Madelyn slowly made her way down, branch to branch.

Amy kicked a fallen stick, wondering if she'd ever been like that. Slow and careful for safety's sake. Then she thought back through various events of her life and decided not. She watched the rest of May's progress down the tree.

Inside, Uncle Biff was talking with Dad and Grandpa. "I know a little town in the far west that makes the finest lace on planet Mobius."

"Fine, my son, is a relative term." Grandpa sipped his tea.

"True," Uncle Biff continued. "But have we not traveled the world?"

"Father has traveled the world twice, Biff," Amy's dad said.

Madelyn caught up with Amy, and they stalked up to the door with wide ears.

"I do trust your judgment, Father. But the memory of that lace is imprinted in my mind, and I thought to myself when I saw it, 'I would see my daughter married in lace only such as this.'"

"You have been in theatrics too long, brother." Amy's dad joked. "Thine tong is bent with study day in and day out."

Uncle Biff and Grandpa chuckled.

Amy looked at her cousin with a questioning expression.

"Drama jokes," Madelyn whispered.

"Ah! There in yonder doorway I heard but the softest whisper of my oldest granddaughter. Come in, May." Grandpa waved at the door for them to come in.

Amy and Madelyn entered the room. May sat at the table with them. "I hate to burst any bubbles, but Paul and I decided on a traditional southern wedding."

Short silence. May's father smiled. "I'm proud of you. Already working together to build your dreams."

Madelyn smiled. "We'd also like it to be held on the beach."

"The beach!" Grandpa chuckled warmly. "And I suppose you want a sun in the sky, and red rose petals to carpet the center isle!"

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Amy clapped her hands together, causing mini stars to fly briefly is all directions.

"When did you learn how to do that, Darling?" Dad pulled the empty chair next to him out from under the table. "And what are you standing in the corner for? Get over here and sit by Daddy Jo."

Amy laughed and sat down. "I once used a power ring to change my appearance. Ever since then, my hammer sometimes makes hearts and stuff."

"What a nice talent you've got there! How come you didn't tell the rest of us about it, Sweet?" Grandpa's voice mock scolded her.

Amy giggled. "It doesn't happen all the time, But I've gotten so used to it, I don't really notice when it does happen."

"So anyway, Dad?" May folded her hands on the table. "The gown we were thinking _is_ made of white lace. If we could go west and see this lace, maybe Paul would also like to see me in it? Hmmm?"

Grandpa looked at Uncle Biff, then stood up from the table. "Looks like I've got to start packing."

Uncle Biff patted his daughter on the back. "You are such a sweet, May. You know that?"

Madelyn beamed. "I just want our wedding to be the best wedding this side of Great River! I have to go." She bounced up. "Paul needs to know about this!"

"And I think we have something to do too, don't we?" Amy's dad brushed her bangs back.

"And that would be?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Bet time."

"Bet time? I usually stay up much later than this and I'm still just fine. But I do think Cream would be going to bed soon, if not already because of the time zone."

"Cream's mom sounds like a smart lady. How come she didn't teach you anything? Go on, girl." He pulled Amy's chair back. "Go brush your teeth, make 'em whiter than white caps for the camera."

Amy stood up and sulked away, lightly grumbling to herself. "I can flatten robots that could flatten buildings and cities and he's telling me to brush teeth! It's only nine thirty, I could stay up another hour! Two hours without blinking an eye!" She entered her room for her toothbrush. "Excuse me!"

Gloria dropped the opened and unfolded letter. "I only just…"

"If I was writing a letter to you, I would have put your name on it!" Amy stooped and picked up her letter to Sonic. "Where's the one to Cream?"

"I don't know." She held her hands behind her back.

"Did you put it in Hammerspace?" Amy set her fists on her hips.

Gloria's eyes widened. "How? Your deck is over there!" She pointed to the small desk with both girls' things on it.

Amy held out her right hand.

"Whatever." Gloria spun on her toe, presenting Cream's letter. "Why do you have to write so small anyway? It took me half an hour to read the first paragraph."

"Which is why Cream's mom will be reading it to her." Amy folded both letters neatly and stuffed them back in the envelope. "But if I ever catch you reading my mail again…"

"This is my bedroom too, you know." Gloria bounced over and curled up under her quilt, her head poking out in a cute way. "Can't hide anything from family. Secrets don't make friends!" She crossed her arms under the covers.

Amy crossed her arms as well. "If you want to be my friend, then keep this secret. Ok?"

Gloria jumped out from under the quilt. "Did you know that the money you spend on stamps could buy us a bakery of bread?"

"Did you know that I didn't actually use money to pay for this?" Amy pointed to the stamp.

"You stole it?"

She shook her head. "I gave him a ring. And the guy also gave me that little charm on your bracelet to go with it!"

Gloria glanced at the newest charm on her chain bracelet. "That dinky little thing?" She looked up. "Why is the post man selling dumb luck charms?"

"He wasn't a post man, he was a street vendor." Amy sighed. "He gave it to me because you can't break a ring in half."

"If you had so many rings, why don't you pay for the food, or the gas for the truck and generator, or so many other things? You just said that rings can be used as money!"

"It's _my_ money!"

"You're selfishly keeping it for yourself because ever since you got kidnapped and shot into the light of heroine fame, you're too good for us!"

"Rose!" Mother stood in the narrow doorway, feet apart and eyes squared. "Both of you! I didn't hear the whole argument, but both of you should know better! Apologize to your sister right now!"

Neither Rose knew if Mom was specifically talking to them, so they apologized to each other. To make it more believable, Amy knelt on one knee and gave Gloria a little hug. Gloria got a great idea too.

"Now both of you, time for bed!" Mother closed the door behind herself.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Gloria grabbed her tooth brush and left the room, leaving the door wide open.

Amy huffed and crossed her arms. "How convenient." She went over to the vanity mirror and stared at her angry reflection. _It's true what they say, how you should never look at your own face when you're mad._ "Wait just a moment, what is_ that_?" She leaned in closer and closed her fingers abound a wad of pink sticky. "YUCK! Ooh! Sis, I'm going to eat you alive, you bratty little SNIPE!" _I give you a hug and you spit gum in my hair?!_ Amy carefully pulled out as much as she could. Then she thoroughly washed that lock of hair in the kitchen sink and ran back to look again. It was gone, but if she looked any longer, Amy's death stare would probably break the mirror without any other assistance. She growled and avoided looking at any mirrors for the rest of the night.

As an alternative to taking out her anger on glass, Amy decided to take it out on paper. She wrote about everything she was hating at the moment until the paper looked pink on both sides from her red pen. After that, she ripped it out of the binder. Amy crumpled it up as tight as possible, then smashed it between two of her hammers, and lastly tore it in half with her fists. But that wasn't enough. She ripped it again and again and again until there was confetti all over the floor.

Amy suddenly felt tired. She picked up the pieces and threw them away. The she jumped up on her bunk again and wrote a PS to Sonic and Cream.


	11. Chapter 11 Catter Drowner

Catter-Drowner

Eggman squinted until he got closer. He grinned when he recognized April. "SO SONIC, ARE YOU ENJOYING GETTING TO KNOW YOUR SISTER?"

The small purple dot on the gray bump stood up and stepped ahead, clearly interrupting the small blue dot. "EVEN _IF_ THIS CAMERA HAPPY 6 O CLOCK NEWS FREAK WITH THE PERMANENT GRIN ON HIS FACE IS BY INFINITELY SMALL CHANCE RELATED TO ME, THEN THAT'S STILL A SAD EXCUSE FOR A SAP LIKE YOU TO INTERRUPT A STUPID PICNIC!"

"Hey!" Sonic protested.

"No offence, I just wanted to make him mad again."

"That might not have been the best idea in the world…" Tails pointed out.

"IF THAT'S WAY YOU THINK ABOUT FAMILY, THEN MAYBE I CAN GET RID OF THEM FOR YOU!"

"Them?" Tails asked.

June sat still, her eyes wide. "Me."

"But what happens if he hits you?!" April panicked and hugged June.

"Hello!" Sonic held out his hands. "That is a robot over there, and there is an ocean here! This'll be a piece of cake!"

"Care to enlighten us?" June scowled at him.

"Watch and learn." Sonic bolted out to sea, making a serious wake that got them all wet.

"What in the world is he doing?" April shaded her eyes and squinted over the ocean.

"He's going to short circuit it by getting it wet." Tails pointed. "Look!"

Sonic ran right under the centipede, soaking the underbelly. The head of the centipede twisted to dive after him, missed, and plunged into the water. "Oh…" Surprised, Sonic ran a little faster, just as right behind him the centipede erupted forth from the shallow waves. "Whew!"

Eggman leaned far out over the rim of the Egg-mobile, shouting orders to his robot. "Compensate for speed changes! Don't just go for where he is that instant, anticipate!"

The flying centipede twisted in midair and dove for Sonic again.

This time, Sonic slowed down to turn and let the robot plunge below the water's surface, but tail snapped and the resulting ripple swallowed up the blue hedgehog.

"Oh no!" Tails jumped and flew.

"What's wrong?" April grabbed his shoe.

"Sonic can't swim! Let go!"

"Why did he go out there if he couldn't… AAAHHH!" April clung tight to Tails's feet as the ground sank out from under her feet.

"April!" June stood up and reached after them, pacing back and forth with worry.

There was a splashing ahead of the flying pair, but just then the centipede popped up and grabbed whatever had caused the commotion and disappeared again.

"Was that Sonic?" April looked up.

"That's it Eggipede! Drag that rodent under!" Eggman held up his fists in early victory.

"YO! DOCTOR EGGMAN!" June shouted over the sea.

"That's where we're going!" Tails swooped in close to the water in response to April's question.

Eggman looked towards the island. "What do you want?"

"You don't know how it's done! There's a six year old chic on my team that could slap you silly when it comes to cheerleading!" June shouted.

"Is that so?"

"Here, take this." Tails passed down a breathing regulator.

"You bet your Granny's favorite china I'm right!" June picked up a rock.

April let go of Tails's other foot, breathing regulator in hand. A ways below, she saw Sonic still fighting to get out of the centipede's mouth.

He pushed up to force its jaws open, and when it suddenly closed the mouth, Sonic was shot away.

April took a breath from the bubbling device and swam down as fast as she could.

The centipede came at him again, and Sonic jumped. It dented its head on the rocks.

April threw the breathing regulator at him.

It sank past him, then he caught it and put it in his mouth. Sonic looked and gave a thumbs up in her direction as he jumped again to avoid the robot's snapping jaw.

But the robot wasn't aiming for Sonic. April's eye's grew wide as suddenly the angry, blinking lights zoomed up in her face. She swished and the head missed, but the rush of its passage caught her up and she clung to a leg near the tail end for dear life. Then the metal beast decided to have a look at its passenger.

The head shimmered lime green, with glazed over eyes that glowed a fiery red which seemed out of place in this aqua environment. The teeth gleamed as they spun in tiny circles, silver, long, and dangerous.

Then it decided that it didn't need a passenger. The leg April clung to ejected. She panicked again, letting go of the leg and shoving her fingers into the hole left behind. The underwater world churned about her, light and dark playing ring around the rosy. Round and round and round, faster and faster, and still faster. Then something fast and solid ripped April away with harsh rough hands. April's head spun and her sight refused to cooperate. She thought she was sinking, as the light from above slowly faded and the water kept rushing by...

There was a rushing noise and something clamped onto April's hair and forced her face to the sun. She coughed and wrestled to get away, pushing back the yellow fox with a sputtering breathing tube stuck in his mouth, who promptly disappeared back under the water.

"Uh, hum! And… April!" June waded towards her sister.

"And April?" Eggman laughed. "_That's_ your witty comeback?"

April coughed and dog paddled her way to June. "Is that swag bag still over there? What do you think is wrong with that guy? Is he scared of you or something?"

"SWAG BAG?! SCARED!?" Eggman piloted his pod closer to the island. "I'LL SHOW YOU HOW SCARY I CAN BE!"

"I hope you've got a trick up your sleeve." June crouched lower as Eggman came closer.

"Course I do." April handed her sister a thumb sized rock. "Pitching practice."

When he approached the island, Eggman lowered a small rocket cannon. As soon as the cannon clicked into place, June slung the pebble as though skipping the stone. The spinning rock lodged itself deep inside the cannon's barrel, so when Eggman fired the rocket, the cannon exploded.

Eggman coughed, raised one blackened fist, and snarled, the best he could do considering.

June folded her arms and gave a satisfied nod.

April grinned and scratched her teeth. "You've got something stuck on your choppers."

Eggman frowned so his mustache covered his mouth. "Neither of you will be laughing by the time I am through with you!"

"Dude, you can't hit a stationary target at point blank range! Better TNT." April smirked.

"TNT?" June asked.

April glanced up and over her shoulder. " Better Try Next Time."

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!"

"Good!" April waved him away. "Get out of here then!"

"NOT UNTIL…" Eggman looked down at a disturbed place in the water.

The severed head of the centipede shot out of water and landed dead on the copper patch of the concrete island. Sonic and Tails popped up nearby. Sonic took the breathing regulator out of his mouth and looked up. "I don't care how dangerous it is, or how fast you can get one of these things to me," he waved it under Tails's nose, "next time, _you_ take out the underwater boss."

Eggman grumbled to himself and flew away.

"Aw, dudes, you missed it!" April ran up to them as Tails set Sonic on his feet. "June so totally handed it to his face!"

Sonic paused. "I'll take that as a good thing. Good job, whatever you did." Sonic spun to fling away as much water as he could.

* * *

"What a day!" April shoved hers and June's damp clothes into the washing machine.

"Indeed." June thumped down the stairs. "How about we do something normal until Mom and Dad get home?"

"Agreed." April jumped on top of the washing machine to push the button. "What are we going to do?"

"Let's paint our nails while watching a comedy."

"That's fine with me." April slid off the machine and made her way into the TV room.

June walked in, wearing PJs and holding three colors of nail polish. "I'm sorry for calling them on us. Didn't imagine Dr. Eggman was going to show his face."

"No harm..." April raised an eyebrow at herself, "_ultimately_ done. It's just that everything you let them do to me, it almost got me run over by a car, then almost drowned, twice!" April rubbed her eyes. "And then I got smashed into the rocks by that, thing, thing, I mean robot." She plopped down crisscross "Who's going first? You or me?"

"You. What color?" June set the tiny bottles of polish down. There was cherry, lilac, and lime.

"Green." April held out her left hand, turning on the movie with the remote.

"You usually go for purple."

"I'm in a strange mood."

June unscrewed the cap brush of the lime paint. "Did you know that you've been acting strange since Eggman pumped you full of Chaos Energy?"

"_Don't_ remind me!" April fixed her eyes on the TV, pushing the 'Play' button on the remote when the menu finally came up.

They both sat and listened to the movie, but neither of them really busted up at the corny jokes. At best one or two of the visual and pun humor was rewarded with a smile or snicker. April finally spoke during a quiet, non-action part. "You know, Dr. Eggman still owes us for my cell phone."

"So what? Dad said he'd get you a new one."

"And what about the gym?" April traded hands when June was finished. "He didn't so much as bother to glance in the rear view mirror after he smashed it to smithereens!"

"April, let it go. That's what insurance is for. I'm more worried about them than our school, and more about you than them. Now please be quiet, my favorite part is coming up."

They were both silent for the remainder of the movie.

* * *

_Dear Sonic,_

_How do you like my dress? Isn't it gorgeous? My little sister is getting one just like it. They'll both be much prettier when Mama gets lace to put on them. I really miss all of you. What did Eggman want from the basketball game? Have you done anything exciting lately?_

_I think I told the fortunes of a hundred people over the last few days. Constant tarot reading gets boring after a while, I am realizing. It's nothing new, though. I used to do it all the time before we met. Almost all of the fortunes are somewhat good, in the fact that nothing bad happens to them. Only a few today were slight warnings, and one of them was about a pickpocket, I think. So I thought to myself, what if I'd known May and Rose would be at the Fair? What if I hadn't? Thank you very much, Sonic. You're the one who noticed May was one of those._

_The other letter in this envelope (I'm so proud of myself! An envelope! Finally!) is for Cream. Please show her the picture too. Love, Amy Rose._

Sonic folded the letter again along the fold lines and put it back in the envelope. Amy's picture sat between the slips of paper. Amy was wearing a long, simple white dress. She made a funny face at the camera by pushing on her cheeks and puckering her lips like a fish. Amy's little sister stood tippy toe on a stool, putting bunny ears over Amy's head. Looking at her was like peeking back in time to when Amy was that age. Also on Amy's other side were May and her apparent fiancé Paul. May's arm came forward as though she was taking the picture, but Paul behind her curled his fingers and lifted a foot like he was the monster stalking May. The funniest part was the fact how May's smile was the most normal of all, like she had no idea what was going on behind her as she took the picture. Sonic snickered and slid the photo back inside. Another piece of paper fell out with his name on it.

_P.S. We're moving again. This time almost to the west coast. We're going to see the ocean! Uncle Biff says there's a kind of lace there that May and Paul want to look at for her wedding dress. I also caught Rose reading your letter again. I'll need to get better at hiding them. I hope you don't mind too much._

"Yeah, whatever." Sonic jumped down from the tree next to his house. He ran over to Cream's house and was about to knock on the door when his cam com beeped.

He opened it, walking away from Cream's house. "Shadow?"

"Faker, that new friend of yours is getting into trouble."

"What new friend?"

Shadow shook his head. "I don't know! But I picked up an unidentified signal from the Eggman base that you destroyed three days ago. GUN did not authorize me to go."

Sonic stopped. "Shadow! Did you just say you have a sense of curiosity?"

"No." Shadow frowned. "You'd better hurry if you don't want the doctor getting there before you."

"Say no more." Sonic closed the cam com and slipped the letter under the door of Cream's house. Then he ran as fast as he could back to Eggman's York City base. There were a few ruble-removal bots around, but there was nothing harmful about them. So they went ignored. Sonic found one of the robots looking down a hole which seemed to have been recently opened. He pushed it aside and jumped down the hole, slapping his feet against the metal floor with a loud _BANG!_

"EEEAAAHHH!"

Sonic winced brushed his hands together. "Do you scare so easily?"

"No!" April came out of the darkness. "You surprised me, that's all. How did you know I was here?!" There was an edge in her voice.

"You must have set off something that still works." Sonic looked around the room as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. "What did you find here?" He walked over to a ring of strange statues. Mounted in the tops of five out of seven statues were fist sized jewels. "Chaos Emeralds?" He turned around.

"Yes, Chaos Emeralds." Eggman appeared out of the deepest shadows.

April jumped at Eggman's voice. "Why do people keep _doing_ that to me? Can't I get ten minutes of peace?!"

"Why, of course dear April! Just as soon as you return to me that Chaos Emerald." Eggman held forward an open hand.

"You're not scaring me in the slightest. How do you know that_ he _doesn't have it?" April pointed to Sonic.

"He just got here. And I know for a fact that the safety was triggered before he got arrived. Must I use force?" Eggman held up a fancy looking ray gun. "It only…"

"There's no need for that, is there?" Sonic skipped past Eggman, quick stealing the gun and dismantling it before finishing his sentence. "Good. I didn't think so."

Eggman growled. "Sonic!"

"Yes?" Sonic kicked the parts in different directions across the hard floor.

"You missed one." He held up another. "Actually, you missed several! Observe." Eggman clicked a button on the wall and battery powered lights lit up the room. Several similar weapons protruded out of the ceiling and walls. "And they'll only hurt super fast hedgehogs with high amounts of Chaos Energy. I designed them all so well, I wouldn't be hurt at all even if I _was_ hit."

April cringed and looked down, hands in her eyes. "No guns…" she whispered to herself.

Sonic studied one of them closely. "Looks like a lot of work to put into a piece of junk."

Eggman did not take the bait. "The Chaos Emerald, please."

He sighed. "April? What's wrong?"

She was kneeling on the ground, fists in her eyes, and shaking her head. "They are not real…" she whispered to herself. "No guns…"

"April, I need the Chaos Emerald." Sonic stood beside her. "Did you put it in hammer… Is it in phantom land?"

Eggman raised an eyebrow.

April nodded.

"Can I have it?"

"No!" April shouted, though it seemed to pain her to do so.

Eggman groaned and shrugged. "Then I'll have to take it from what remains."

"You know, I think it's time to go." Sonic quickly scooped up the girl and jumped as everything fired at once. He grabbed onto the pipe network above the laser guns and therefore hung himself out of range of danger.

"Grrr… You can't hold on forever!" Eggman shouted, then he took aim with his own laser and fired.

Sonic swung out of the way of the blast, helping April climb onto the pipes. "Nice aim, Egghead!"

Eggman corrected a little and fired again.

"Miss!" Sonic swung and kicked his feet up onto the next pipe over. "April I think it's time to leave."

Aprils shook herself out of the trance. She climbed towards the entry hole in a style similar to a sloth. "Um, Sonic! The robots!"

"Ignore them!" Sonic jumped again to dodge. "Wow, Eggman! Your ruble bots could hit me faster than you!"

"Oh, be quiet!" Eggman fired again.

April climbed out the hole, shoving harmless robots out of her way. "What are you staring at me for? Get back to work!"

Sonic spun his own exit out the ceiling. He kicked a piece of sheet metal over his exit. "Now tell me, why on Mobius did you just steal an Emerald from there?"

"The guy owes me!" April shoved a metal plate over her own hole. "He destroyed my cellphone and my school's gym. Wouldn't you be a little upset too? I mean, the guy's lucky I didn't take them all!"


	12. Chapter 12 All For A Cell Phone

All For A Cellphone

"Let me get this straight. You broke into Eggman's lab, by yourself, stole a Chaos Emerald, without knowing what was in there, all just for a_ cell phone_?"

"Wouldn't you know! Why? You didn't think this chic could handle herself?" April put her hands on her hips and glared at Sonic.

"Uh," Sonic frowned. "Judging by your actions of the last several days, including what you just did…" He ducked April's fist. "What was that?"

"You insult me!" She spun around in the after math of her swing, almost falling down. She twirled and tried to kick.

Sonic jumped a step back. "And trying to beat me up is going to help? Really, save yourself the trouble. I'm too fast for you!"

"Wana bet?" April kicked a baseball sized rock at Sonic.

He caught it and threw it back. "Sure!"

April jumped, coming down on a metal plate that launched up another rock which she whacked at him.

Sonic twirled out of the way. "Care to try again?" he smirked back.

"It's not a valid bet if you don't take me seriously!"

"You want to see what happens if I take you seriously?" Sonic crouched low to the ruble. "Are you _sure_ you're ready for this?"

April charged forward, only to trip over a (relatively speaking,) slowly spinning Sonic. She landed on her hands and summersaulted to her feet. However, Sonic spin jumped in the air and homed in on her, knocking April into a window of a nearby abandoned building. April quickly picked herself out of the broken glass and stepped one pace to the left. Just then, a spinning Sonic sailed past her ear and crashed into a pile of empty wooden boxes.

Sonic jumped out of the boxes and dusted himself off. "Impressive," he smiled.

April ran at him, jumped, and aimed her right foot for a kick. Sonic swatted her away, but she followed through with her other foot and they both fell on the ground.

She rolled onto her stomach. "I think you're holding out on me!"

"I don't want you to get hurt," Sonic mirrored her move. "Tell me again, why?"

"Why what?"

"Why you attacked me."

"That wasn't a question." April stood up.

Sonic jumped to stand. "Getting technical, are we?"

"Nope, just me." April kicked a pile of splinters at his face.

Sonic closed his eyes and jumped out of the way. "Fine! Why are we fighting?"

"You called me incompetent!" She threw a square piece of wood at him like a Frisbee. "You don't think my beef with Eggman is worth anything!"

"What?!" Sonic jumped out of the way again, letting the wood shatter another window. "When?!"

"Before I tried to punch you in the face, Slick!" April crouched and mimicked a weak spin aimed at Sonic.

Sonic shook his head, running slowly for the stairs. "I was just answering your question."

"Yeah! That's what I'm, oof!" She uncurled upon hitting the wall. "That's what I'm talking about!" She followed him up the stairs.

"But you _are_! You're not used to your new abilities." Sonic side stepped at the top of the stairs. "You obviously can't control yourself yet!"

April glared at him.

Sonic started to spin. April heard and also started to spin. When Sonic shot forward, he slammed into April and they both flew out an already broken window. The ground knocked the wind out of both of them, and each spent a few minutes catching their breath.

Sonic sat up first. "You need my help."

April frowned. "I'd be fine if you'd just leave me alone! NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF EVERYONE WOULD'VE JUST LEFT ME ALONE!"

"You might kill yourself if I leave."

She rolled her eyes. "Why on Mobius would I do that?"

"Not that you _would_," Sonic held up his hands. "It's just that you're not used to having this much Chaos Energy." He looked up. "I'm here to help you learn how to deal with so much power."

"So," April stood up and brushed herself off. "Was that lesson number two?"

"Yeah," Sonic smirked a bit. "And I hope you're ready for lesson three, because here it comes!"

She started to look over her shoulder, but a whirling lead ball covered in spikes narrowly missed her face. "Oh, _that_ kind of…" she ducked as spike ball followed in the first's wake, "lesson three."

Sonic ran circles around the small, old looking robot. It tried to keep up, hopelessly saving the other two spike balls. "Well?" Sonic asked.

"Well what?"

"Take it out!"

"How?" April stepped forward.

"Just jump on its head! This is one of the _really_ old models."

April started to run, and then jumped and landed on the robot's head. It crumpled open, and a shiny golden ring bounced away. "What's that?"

"What's it look like? Touch it, I dare you." Sonic picked up the spikes.

April reached out and tried to grab the ring, but at the touch of her hand it disappeared with a _ding!_ "What happened to it?"

"Power Rings almost always automatically go into hammerspace." Sonic explained. "Congratulations. You just collected your first ring."

"Not funny." April crossed her arms and stared off in the distance. "I'm going home now."

"Just one more thing. That Chaos Emerald you have?"

"What about it?"

"It's going to make your problem worse."

"What problem?" April frowned and crossed her arms.

"Ok. Let me put it this way." Sonic sent all four spiky orbs to hammerspace. "Eggman hit you with enough Chaos Energy to turn me Super, or at least Semi Super. The reason why you have since been able to run on water, survive a ten story fall from that building, and destroy this robot just by jumping on it, that's all because of the Chaos Energy now in you."

"Is that also why I can't play basketball, and why I can't sleep at night anymore?"

He thought about it. "Probably, except for the basketball. If you went back now without the Emerald, you could probably play better than ever. Why, you could probably be your own team."

"Why? Two days ago, I couldn't even bounce pass."

"Ask Tails about that one. But what I _do_ know is that your Chaos Emerald is probably going to mess you up."

"And how is it going to mess _me_ up when it makes you stronger?"

"Tails could explain it better than I could. The Chaos Emeralds amplify Chaos Energy. I think the only difference is that I can easily use the power for whatever I want. The more powerful _it_ is, the stronger I become."

"_That's_ a little unnerving to think about."

Sonic sighed and shook his head. "It's just the way it is, ok? You, on the other hand, have yet to learn how to use this Energy instead of letting it mess you up."

April took out the purple Chaos Emerald. It glowed brilliantly in her hand, pulsing erratically and completely of its own. She looked at him. "Are you asking me to give this to you? Because if you are, all you had to do was say so."

"Sure, I'm asking for the Emerald. Would you please give it to me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "How am I going to pay for my cell phone?"

Sonic sighed and held out his hand. "If it bugs you that much, I'll get you a new one."

"Now?"

"Why not?"

April let the largest jewel she'd ever seen roll into the hand of another. Immediately, the frightened light inside slowed its breathing, eventually beating softly like the heart of a new born baby. "Wow..." April whispered. She looked at Sonic as he turned to lead into town. _Even the untamed Emerald itself can be calmed by his touch. With that kind of power at one's disposal, they could do anything, be anything, go anywhere. So much power in one person, it could be enough to build an entire empire... or destroy a world. I have that kind of power in me. And I don't know what scares me more, the fact that such power exists, or the fact that people like me can obtain it.__  
_

* * *

They strolled into town and went to the mall. April led them to her favorite cellphone outlet. She went in, Sonic stayed outside feeling a little bored. Suddenly, he spotted a little rabbit, her mother, and a chao.

"Cream!" Sonic stepped towards them.

"Mr. Sonic!" Cream clapped her hands and ran forward.

"Chao! Chao! Chao!" Cheese bobbed after her.

Sonic caught the speeding Cream and twirled her around, causing her to laugh.

"Well hello Sonic. We weren't expecting to see you here." Vanilla smiled and folded her hands in front of her.

"Did Amy write back yet?" Cream asked.

"Funny thing, a letter from her came in just this morning." Sonic set her back down.

"Where is it?!" Cream bounced up and down.

"I slid it under your front door. I should have kept it with me." Sonic snapped his fingers.

"Chao?" Cheese sat on Cream's head. "Chao, chao chao."

"That's ok, Cheese. We'll see it when we get home." Cream reached up and patted Cheese on the head.

"So what brings you here, Sonic?" Vanilla asked.

April walked out of the store, confused and looking around. "Yo! Hello! Where did you go, Slick?!"

Sonic turned half way. "This is April."

Cream ran around Sonic and presented herself to April. "Hello, Miss April. I am Cream. Mr. Sonic is over here."

April followed her back, staring at Cheese. "What is that?"

"Chao?" Cheese flew a circle around April.

She backed off, eyes wide.

"Oh, Cheese won't hurt you. You're a friend."

"I've never seen cheese that flew, moved, and made noise. Well, maybe I have, but that was just a stupid prank…" April muttered, backing against the wall.

"Cheese, come here a moment," Vanilla called.

The flying chao flew over to her.

"Cheese is a chao. Surely you've heard of those before," Sonic tickled Cheese's foot as he flew by.

"Chao!" Cheese laughed.

"Named by what they say, huh?" April kept her distance. "Weird. So, Cream. Why did you name it 'Cheese'?"

"Why not?" Cream held Cheese in her arms.

"Never mind."

"Tell us, April." Vanilla set her shopping bag on the ground. "We've never seen you before. How did you come to meet Sonic?"

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you with a straight face." April put her hands in her pockets.

Cream nodded. "I know what you mean. I've also had a lot of adventures with Mr. Sonic and his friends, and sometimes when I try to tell about one to someone my age, they don't believe me either."

"The actual _meeting_ is believable," Sonic explained, "but why is just plain ridiculous!"

"Oh? How so?" Vanilla asked.

"Dr. Eggman says we're siblings," April watched as their faces changed. "Yeah, I thought so. As I said, unbelievable."

Cream's eyes bounced back and forth between them, the same way Tails had at the picnic. "Um…"

"Ok Cream," Sonic stood beside April. "Tell me one way we look alike."

"Your eyes are the same shade of green," Cream pointed. "And you're both…"

"That's enough!" April walked to the other side of Vanilla. "He only asked for one."

"… about the same brightness of color," she finished.

"Chao." Cheese nodded.

"But that's impossible!" April protested. "My blood parents are dead. I know where they were buried. And they left a safe deposit box for me to open when I'm older. I know what's in it. Collage money and the deed to a little place to call home after I leave town. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I have to agree." Sonic crossed his arms. "I'm also an only child."

"Well now, we can't argue with that now, can we?" Vanilla held out her hands as Cheese flew back to Cream. "Come along, Cream. We do have things we need to get done today."

"Good bye Mr. Sonic and Miss April!" Cream waved.

Cheese waved, riding on top of Cream's head. "Chao, chao."

"Who were they?" April asked.

"That was Amy's best friend and her mother and pet chao."

"Who's Amy?"

Sonic started leading them out of the mall. "She's a girl who used to work with us.

"Used to?" she asked.

"Yep."

"She ditched?"

"She'll be back."

"What if she doesn't come back?"

Sonic laughed. "You obviously don't know anything about her. I know for a fact that she'll be back as soon her cousin's wedding is over."

April stopped and put a thumb on her chin. "I know that if _I_ found my blood family alive, I'd want to stay with them for forever. After all, family is family. After the wedding comes the honeymoon, and winter follows autumn. But what about after the snow melts? What comes after the honeymoon?"

"Spring comes after snow and morning follows night. There is a season for all things and I don't care where you want to take this conversation next, we can stop with the 'what if's. Amy is bound to come back." Sonic opened the door to go outside.

April opened her own door. "Do you miss her?"

He shrugged. "She's a good fighting partner. Which way's your house from here?"

"That a way." April pointed down the street.

* * *

_Dear Amy,_

_A lot has happened since last time I wrote. Congrats on the envelope, and good luck on the west coast. As for me, well, I'm convinced Eggman has finally blown a gasket._

_As for the basketball game, apparently Egghead thought one of the players is related to me, a girl whose name is April Tailor. To prove it, he kidnapped us both and zapped her with enough Chaos Energy for me to turn Super and destroy the entire establishment. He's obviously unprovoked and half delirious, but Tails and I have been trying to help her with her new found power ever since._

_Today, we went to the mall and found Cream and Cheese there. Too bad I'd slipped your letter under their door just before. Anyway, Cream really misses you. I saw Vanilla carrying a book bag. It looked a little heavy to be learning books for Cream._

_That picture you sent was really good. Did your cousin know any of what was going on behind her as she took the picture?_

_Sonic._

* * *

RETURN TO SENDER: ADDRESS DOES NOT EXIST

_P. S. as in, Post Sending. Don't know when you'll get this, but please make sure you put a return address somewhere next time? The first time I sent this, they sent it back._


	13. Chapter 13 Rip Tide

Rip Tide

"I can't believe I let you drag me out here with you guys!" Amy slipped her sandals off, again, and shook it to dislodge all the sand.

"Yeah! Ditto!" Jenny Rose sat on a rock so she could rub the sand out from between her toes.

Martha May laughed. "If you two really hate it so much, then go back. Pick pockets and tell fortunes. _I'm_ the one who has a date."

"Oh really?" Paul lifted May's chin with the hand that wasn't in hers. "I thought it was I who had the date."

She threw her head back and laughed again.

"Come on, Annabelle." Jenny returned the flip-flops to her feet. "Let's go swimming."

"Beats a million tiny rocks constantly scratching your feet." Amy ran after her sister.

Except for the wind, it was a gorgeous day at the beach. The sun was still low over the hilly sand dunes, the tide was going out, and the waves greeted the two girls with open arms. They jumped into the first big wave that presented itself, and it playfully pushed them back to the sand. Jenny lost her flip-flops on the second wave, so Amy took a minute to pull up the heal straps of her own sandals. Before long, they jumped back in the refreshingly frigid water after spending all night in a hot, stuffy truck. But the biggest waves were still further out, so they kicked and swam against the smaller ones to reach them. One giant wave picked up both girls in its strong arms, heaved them upside down, and tossed them back to the smaller waves. After that, they decided to duck under the absolutely huge waves.

As soon as Amy and Little Rose got back out to where they had been before, another monster waved soared above them. Smiling, they looked at each other and sank themselves under it. The water pushed them a little as the wave passed, not much more than a slosh.

Amy popped up first. "Yeah, we got the better of that one, didn't we Jen? Jen?" She twisted in the water.

Suddenly Jen exploded out of the smooth water and wrapped her arms around Amy. "Gotcha good! Annabelle!"

She laughed and looked at the beach. "Wow, look at how far we've come!"

They floated in the water, gazing back towards where Paul and May were waving to them. No, only Paul waved. May was holding her hands to her mouth like she was distressed.

"Wonder, what got into them?" Jenny looked at Amy.

Amy shrugged. "Wait, I hear something."

"It sounds like Paul's shouting to us! What's he say?"

"Well if you'd be quiet, I'd be able to hear him." Amy floated silently for a moment.

"…back! Come back! Rápido! Hurry! The rip tide…"

"What's he saying?" Jenny asked.

"He wants us to go back. And I think I heard him say something in Spanish." Amy kicked her legs again. "We'd better go."

"Ok." Jenny followed. "Oh look! Here comes the next wave!"

"Let's catch a ride!" Amy stopped and braced herself for the wave.

This wave crashed on top of them. Amy felt herself thrust forward towards shore, but when she straightened to stand up, the water rushing past her body dragged her back out. Another large wave crashed behind her, pushing her forward a little, but dragging her back a lot more.

"Rose!" Paul ran for the waves, waded until knee deep, then he dove and swam out towards the girls.

* * *

"DON'T EITHER OF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Mother paced back and forth in the living room, raising her hands in the air and taking deep breaths.

Amy and Little Rose sat next to each other on the small sofa, bundled in wet towels. May sat by herself in the other room.

"Mommy, I'm cold." Rose shivered in her towels, a little too obviously.

"Paul will be back in a minute." Mother stood still for a bit.

"Señor Paul has returned." Paul entered with a steaming mug in each hand. He took a quick step to the couch and placed them in the hands of the Roses. "Careful. Muy calor."

"Tea?" Amy sniffed her cup of hot water.

"Tea." Jenny took a sip of hers. Her eyes bugged out and she closed them. "Very _hot_ tea," she opened them again, filled brimming with tears.

"Just what _was_ that in the ocean?" Amy looked up and sipped her tea very carefully, just the way she and Cream had pretended to so many times.

"It is called a rip tide," Paul explained. He sat himself on a stool. "I knew it as Muerte Agua. Death Water."

"Paul grew up in waters like these," Mother scolded. "You two had no business out there!"

"What is a rip tide, Paul?" Amy asked, wrapping her chilled hands around her mug.

"A very dangerous thing, chica. The ocean waves to you like she is your friend, then she wraps her arms around you and pulls you down into a thousand circles under the water. Then you stop spinning, and you start swimming but can't tell where the air is, the air that truly is your friend and lets you breath. But first, the ocean waves must lure you out to sea far enough so she can pull you down. I knew many friends and enemies who drown because of Muerte Agua."

Both Amy's and Jenny's eyes had frozen wide open, both almost petrified if not for the need to blink.

Amy spoke first. "That's horrible!"

"I don't believe it." Jenny stared down into the depths of her cup.

"Believe it when you drown." Paul stood up and left.

She shook her head. "I still don't believe it. What can a little water possibly do to you? Any ideas?" Jenny looked at Amy.

"It could kill you," Amy stared her sister down.

"Nevertheless," Mother folded her arms. "Neither of you are to ever so much as dip your toe in an incoming ocean wave without Paul's express permission and supervision as long as we are near the coast."

"Mommy!" Jenny protested, almost spilling her mug.

"No arguing! That's a standing rule from now on!" Mother left the room.

Amy stood up. "I'm going to our room."

"I'm going too." Jenny followed her out.

Amy sighed. "Why do you _always_ have to be following me?" She waited for her before closing their door.

"Why are_ you_ such a loner wana be?" Jenny sat on her bed, shivering in her towels and sipping her tea.

"Why do you ask so many questions?"

"Why do you never give me any answers?"

Amy set her mug on the tiny desk. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to change out of these wet clothes."

"Good idea." Jenny dropped her towels.

Amy rolled her eyes. "Not you too," she grumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Little Rose perked her ears.

"We have to, or we'll catch the flu."

"Which is it? You only said one. And on top of that, how can you catch the flu from being cold? I thought you caught a cold from being cold."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too smart for your own good?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Jenny responded.

Amy was surprised. "When?"

"Just now," she said it sarcastically. "So, when is Sonic going to write back to you?"

"That's not really any of your business." Amy picked up the hair brush and sat at the vanity desk.

"Wana bet?" Jenny held up a couple of old letters from Cream and the one from Sonic.

"Those are mine!" Amy stood up.

"I know where there are more." She handed them over without a fight. "And you know what Grandpa and Mom will say if they find out."

"I know very well what you would tell them." Amy put the letters in the same drawer with the rest of them. "Why are you looking in here anyway? It has my name on it."

"In case you didn't notice," Jenny pointed to herself, "we have the same name! It's only the colors that are different."

"Fine! This one has my _colors_ on it then. Use your own drawer, please." Amy pushed it back in.

"Tell me about Sonic." Jenny rolled on her bed, trying her best to look cute.

"And give you another excuse to tattle?" Amy crossed her arms.

"If you don't, I'll tell on you right now." She took a deep breath.

"Alright."

Jenny slowly let it out, rolling onto her stomach and lifting her chin with her hands, ears perked forward.

Amy sat at the desk but turned the chair around so she could brush her hair and see her sister at the same time. "Where should I start?"

"How you met."

"Ok." Amy started to brush her hair. "Remember when my favorite color suddenly changed to blue?"

"No, I was only a baby."

"Well, May remembers. About a week before I ran away, I told my own fortune."

Jenny laughed. "Told your own fortune? Isn't that a little pointless?"

Amy huffed. "It wasn't pointless in this case. My cards told me I'd meet him on Mini Planet so that's where I went to. I waited a week to leave, because at the time, Mini Planet hadn't appeared yet."

"So then what happened?"

Amy leaned back and remembered. "My hero came right up to me and asked for my name."

_Sonic ran up to her. Apparently surprised, he slowed to a stop. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"_

"What did you say? You change names every week."

"I said I was Amy Rose, but everyone called me Rosie the Rascal."

_Rosie felt speechless. She jumped forward and hugged him. "I'm Rose! Amy Rose! But everyone calls me Rosie the Rascal."_

"What did you tell him the next week?"

"About what?" Amy carefully brushed a particularly tangled spot.

"Your name," Jenny held out a hand like she was expecting the answer to be put in her hand.

Amy paused a moment. "To tell the truth, I'd been going by Amy Rose ever since then."

Jen's eyes and mouth popped open.

"Well anyway, after I had introduced myself, he started to leave."

_At the hug, Sonic threw his arms up. "That's nice," he said after she introduced herself. Then he unpeeled her arms from around him and ran away._

"And you followed him?"

"Yes of course! I wasn't going to let this opportunity slip away."

"_Wait!" she ran after him. "Take me with you!"_

"So what happened next?"

Amy began brushing the other side of her hair. "I thought I was seeing double, but it was just a robotic duplicate of the real Sonic. Although I could probably have taken it out now, back then it just grabbed me and flew away."

"_AAAHHH! Sonic help me!"_

"You were kidnapped?"

"Yep. It flew for a long time, never saying anything. The ground below eventually started looking like some kind of old race track with a finish line. The robot put me on the other side of the finish line and tied me up. That's where I also met Dr. Eggman, but he was still going by Dr. Robotnik at the time. He talked to me, but not in a very nice way. He told me all his plans and it really sounded like it was going to work. I was truly worried."

"_My Metal Sonic is faster than your hero Sonic! And after Metal flies through this door…" He grinned and threw a lever. A wall slammed down from the arch. "He'll be trapped between my laser and this wall."_

"Were you worried that you might have to come back home after all?" Jenny folded her hands under her chin.

"Oh stop! Do you know how hard it is to tell a story when your audience keeps interrupting?"

"Yes. We do street plays all the time, remember?"

"Whatever." Amy continued to brush her hair in back. "I must have sat there for hours, but when Dr. Robotnik told me to watch the screen, I watched. Sonic had to race that creepy robot that looked like him. It was close, but Sonic rescued me in the end. But then the whole place started to come apart somehow, so he picked me up and carried me to safety."

_Sonic slid under the falling wall, grinning. "Won by a mile, Robotnik!"_

"_NOOO! Metal!" Dr. Robotnik shouted. "My beautiful! Beautiful robot!"_

_Sonic jumped, spinning to cut the ropes holding Rosie. "Let's get you out of here! Mini Planet is about to vanish! And if we're still on it when it does, we'll vanish too."_

"So, Rosie the Rascal, about the part where you were kidnapped?"

"Yeah?"

"Could it be that you would've been kidnapped anyway, even if you'd never left?"

"What makes you say that?"

Jenny allowed her left arm to flop forward. "Since your fortunes come true, to a degree, if you had been someone who for some reason did _not_ want to meet Sonic, and you stayed home, couldn't the robot Sonic have come for you anyway?"

Amy thought about that for a while. "It doesn't work if one directly contradicts their fortune."

"But if you didn't do anything to go help it or harm it, that wouldn't be going against it. It would just be 'not helping.'"

"Hmmm… I don't know."

"Because if you had directly opposed your fortune, then you could've been with us this entire time."

Amy set the hair brush down.

"Can I have the brush now?"

"Oh, sure." Amy passed it back to her. "You know, about the 'not helping' situation, if I hid while Metal Sonic came to kidnap me, it could have been you who became bait."

"I doubt it." Jenny started brushing her hair. "I was just a baby, remember?"

"What about May?"

"Cough it up. She's ten years older than you! If I was Dr. Robotnik, I'd also pick a girl who was more or less close to Sonic's age."

"You're suggesting that we were set up!"

"No, I'm just saying what I would do if I was Dr. Robotnik. There isn't any harm in _that_, is there?"

"And if I had squealed and the whole family decided not to go near where we had planned?"

"That would've been going directly against your fortune, and therefore it would have been some other girl who got kidnapped. Then we probably wouldn't be having this conversation!"

"Girls! Time for Lunch!" Aunt May called.

"We'll settle this later," Amy took a small dry towel and wrapped it around her shoulders.

Jenny did the same. "'Later, we're going shopping."


	14. Chapter 14 The Best Kept Secret

The Best Kept Secret

Sonic spun through Eggman's latest creation, thoroughly destroying what was left. He jumped on the rim of the retreating Egg-mobile. "Ok Eggman. Now spill it! What are you _really_ trying to prove by saying that April is my sister when she really isn't?"

"Get off, Rodent. You're making this craft too heavy for these poor broken engines." Eggman frowned as the horizon slowly rose higher.

Tails landed on the rim, aiding their decent. "Tell us, Eggman!"

With both of them staring him down, , Eggman grumbled. "April really is your sister."

"Yeah, right." Sonic leaned forward more.

"Prove it." Tails crossed his arms.

Eggman brought up some information on a handheld display. "Here," he gave it to Sonic.

Sonic looked at it. "Oh, how thoughtful. A bunch of letters in a row."

"May I see that?" Tails took the hand held. "Sonic, these are DNA strings."

"So?"

He looked up. "They're exactly the same."

Eggman chuckled. "Ah yes. Two strings, in fact. One from you and the other from that other one. And as you can see…"

"Give me that," Sonic grabbed the handheld back. On it were four rows of letters, the top two and bottom two closer together. Above the top it was labeled Sonic. Above the bottom, April. "Then how do you explain her story? Both her parents are dead."

"I have her adoption records, both sets." Eggman folded his hands.

"April was adopted twice?" Tails asked.

"Indeed." Eggman nodded. "Once by her hedgehog parents, and again after they died. Would you like to see the records?"

"No!" Sonic tossed the handheld at Eggman's head. "Tails! You and I are going to get some _real_ answers."

Eggman slapped his hands together to catch the data pad.

"Sonic?" Tails looked at him.

"Come on, Little Buddy." Sonic grabbed Tails's hand and jumped down from the Eggmobile.

"Yes! Yes! Go home, Hedgehog! _Someone_ has some explaining to do!" Eggman called after them as he slowly lifted the Egg-mobile from the dirt.

"Sonic! Where are we going?!" Tails let go and flew along above Sonic.

"Like the Egghead said, someone has some explaining to do! But if it's not who I hope it isn't, we're going to go back to Eggman and make him tell us the real story!" Sonic squinted and ran faster as the dense cities gave way to farms and open land.

Tails followed him without another word.

* * *

Sonic led them south west. Over the mountains and through a desert. The beach whizzed by in an instant, and then he was running on the water.

"Where are we going?" Tails asked again, flying a little higher to avoid the ocean spray.

"Home," Sonic kept looking straight ahead.

After about an hour, they paused to rest on Howihi island.

Tails pulled out a GPS, panting. "We're making really good time, wherever we're going."

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "Haven't been down there in a little while."

"Down where?" Tails asked, leaning against the coconut tree again.

"It's a little place called Christmas Island." Sonic jumped and plucked a ripe coconut. He cut it in half with a quick spin and gave one half to Tails. "It's where I lived before I met the Egghead."

"Really?" Tails sipped the coconut milk from the shell.

He nodded, lifting the coconut and sitting against another tree. "Be sure to expect a warm welcome."

"Sonic?"

"Hm?" Sonic drank from the shell.

"How come I didn't know where you lived before?"

He shrugged. "We never talked about it before."

"What if April really _does_ turn out to be your sister? From what I've seen..."

Sonic put his shell down and looked away. "You know, I'm not sure. What would you do if all of this was about you instead of me?"

Tails thought for a moment. "I suppose I'd want to get to know a sister, or brother, or cousin. But it's a little different with me. I was an orphan long before we met."

"So was April." Sonic pealed a bit of the hard whiteness out of the shell and popped it in his mouth.

* * *

It was mid-morning by the time Christmas Island came into view.

"Is that it?" Tails shaded his eyes.

"That's it!" Sonic turned a little bit so they'd approach from the north side.

"Good! Because I'm getting _really_ tired!"

"No wonder, there's a sixteen hour difference! It's morning tomorrow here now!" Sonic laughed and adjusted his angle again, tilting and skimming his fingers in the warm water.

Tails followed. "But it was just after noon when we left the Great Valley!"

"Little Buddy, I'm about to jump very high and very far!" Sonic sped up, glancing over his shoulder. "It would probably be best if you backed off!"

"Ok!" Tails slowed down a bit, and watched Sonic zoom forward and jump.

Sonic stayed curled up for a count of three, then straightened. "YA HOOOO!" He landed on an old wooden dock that extended from the beach. An old fisherman who'd been jostled by the landing smiled and waved to him.

Tails flew faster after Sonic landed. He set his feet softly on the wood.

The old frog smiled. "So this is the other young fella you've been rocking the world with?"

"Yep!" Sonic nodded to the old man. "Miles Prower, better known as 'Tails'."

"Welcome." The old man shook Tails's hand.

"It's good to be here, uh…"

"Call me Mudly. I'll be here if you need me." Mudly returned to his fishing.

Sonic and Tails walked inland. Tails looked back. "Does he ever catch anything?"

"From time to time."

They came into a small town. A few people waved, but most pretty much stared or ignored the two best known buds on the face of Mobius.

"If this is where you lived, then why is everyone acting just like everywhere else we go?" Tails stopped as Sonic looked around.

"This way," Sonic pointed. They turned at the corner. "Most of the people of Christmas Island lead quiet lives, unlike you and me. They just like being, but don't care to be famous. But when someone does, they usually leave for places better known to the world, such as Hollie Wood, or Sydnee."

"Huh." Tails shrugged and followed.

When they eventually arrived at a sturdy but humble house, Sonic lifted his fist to knock. "Remember that warm welcome I told you about?"

There was a movement by the window. The door opened rather suddenly and both Sonic and Tails were rushed in by a lady who couldn't be anyone but Sonic's mother. "Welcome! Welcome! Oh, and you brought a friend of yours. Welcome!" She hugged them both. "Join us for breakfast. Jules! Two more plates on the table!" she called inside.

Sonic laughed. "You know, the funny thing is that we just had lunch!"

"And I bet you skipped your breakfast, didn't you?" She gave him a jokingly stern look.

Tails started laughing when Sonic froze and his eyes widened.

"Well, here's your chance to make it up. But first," she turned to Tails again. "You can call me Aunt Bernie. I already know everything about you." She shooed them to the table.

"Nice place," Tails commented, admiring the warm decorations on the finished wood walls.

"Thanks. Sometimes I wish I could come back more often." Sonic picked up a fork and plucked the prongs.

Jules set half an omelet each before Sonic and Tails, then placed a bottle of hot sauce between them. "Dig in. Just don't fight over the Fireball."

Sonic wrapped his hand around the hot sauce, almost smirking.

Tails briefly glanced at Jules's face, then looked at Sonic. They were almost exactly the same, only Sonic's face was younger and much more mischievous.

"You going to just sit there smiling Little Buddy, are you going to do something?"

"No, you can go first." Tails pushed down near the edge of the omelet with his fork. Oodles of seasoned veggies spilled out.

Sonic almost covered his omelet with the hot sauce. Then he saw Tails watching him. "What? Even if it's only Fireball, it's still good sauce. Want some?"

"Just a little… No, a tiny bit. Better yet, I'd like to put it on myself." Tails took the bottle of sauce from him and tapped a few drops out. He twisted the cap in place.

"That's _all_?" Sonic inspected the omelet. "I bet you won't even be able to taste it."

"I'll bet that _you_ won't be able to taste _anything_ after you're done with that!" Tails pointed his fork at Sonic's plate.

"Having pleasant conversations, are we?" Bernie entered from the kitchen, a tall glass of water in each hand.

Jules followed close behind, water glasses also in both hands. "Believe me kids, Fireball isn't worth fighting over."

"We're not fighting," Sonic pushed the hot sauce closer to the middle of the table.

"So, what brings you boys to this happy little island? I hope you didn't bring Dr. Eggman with you…" Bernie set the waters in front of Sonic and Tails.

"No way." Sonic shook his head.

"We left him picking up the pieces of his latest robot. Mmm… This is good!" Tails took a small bite.

"You haven't even gotten to the good part yet," Sonic whispered, indicating the drops of Fireball. "Anyways," he said in a normal talking voice. "Never trust what you see on TV unless you absolutely have to. Here's the real deal. You know that purple hedgehog Egghead's been entertaining us with lately?"

"Yes," Jules looked up a moment while he spoke. "They showed a short clip from an interview during a basketball game. April Tailor?"

"That's the one." Sonic held up a photo between his fingers. "Do you know why?"

"No one knows, everyone is caught up in the moment." Bernie explained.

"Eggman tells us that she's Sonic's sister," Tails blurted. "And today he showed us some DNA samples…"

"Tails!"

Sonic's parents looked at each other.

"Oh, no." Sonic leaned back in the chair. "Don't you dare tell me…"

"It's a long story. But you did have a sister, at one time." Jules set his fork down. "But she's been dead for over thirteen years."

"Tell us what happened," Sonic asked.

Bernie sighed. "Sonic, have you ever wondered why you simply cannot swim?"

"Not really, I just try to avoid it."

Tails lifted his finger. "Well, the other day…"

"We'll listen to that later, ok? _Pal?_" Sonic gave him 'the look'.

Bernie continued with her story. "Her name was Periwinkle, she was almost a year younger than you. Her color was a pail lavender, like me. One day, when you were almost two and she had just turned one, we were walking along the northern beach. I remember thinking you were trying to teach Periwinkle how to run faster. But then the sea rushed out, and there were fish flopping on the sand. Naturally, you and Periwinkle ran out there together and neither of us could catch up before the water came back." She rubbed her eyes.

Jules picked it up where she'd left off. "The tsunami wasn't a large one, but it was enough to flood that part of the forest for a few days. We clung to a tree while the brunt of the wave passed, but we couldn't find you. Luckily, Mudly was at his fishing dock, same as ever. He swam out there to bring the two of you back, but he only found you, son. We were very lucky to get you back."

"Yeah, lucky me." Sonic crossed his arms.

Tails frowned. "What if April really does turn out to be Periwinkle?"

"Wrong color, dude." Sonic sat forward again.

"Not necessarily," Bernie said. "Sometimes baby coats change colors. You were born almost sky blue, Sonic."

Tails snickered.

"What?" Sonic looked at him.

"Oh, nothing. Just the thought of you being sky blue."

"Ah, huh. And I would have liked to see you when you were lemon yellow." Sonic smirked. "Can't be worse than what Knuckles did to us."

Tails's face lit up. "What about Silver?"

Sonic grinned.

* * *

June paused at the stoplight, thought for a while, and turned to go down town instead. April had come home with yet another Sonic story, and a new cell phone, an ultra thin one with unbreakable glass and a touch screen. June knew about the safe box, and recent events made her want to know what was in it, but she wanted more than just stories.

The lady almost didn't let her in, but June was eighteen, and she was looking out for her sister. The lady working there unlocked the box April's mother had left behind, and vacated the room. June took the box and placed in on the table. She set aside the money, the deed to a small house which probably didn't exist anymore, but stopped to read a hand written note.

June paid the fee and put most of the stuff in the box back. Carefully, she slid the note in an inner pocket of her leather jacket and tipped the lady on her way out.

* * *

"_What?_"April put the spoon back in her yogurt.

June sat beside her on the couch. "It looks like your mother found you on the streets and raised you as her own, until the gangs came after her again. She didn't know where you'd came from or how you had gotten there."

"You're saying that _no one_ knows who my real parents are?"

"No," June glanced at the name again. "Dolly, the woman who raised you until you were four, says she doesn't know. I'm just reading what she wrote."

"Well, tell her I hate her."

June read the note again. "She says she and John loved you."

April set her yogurt on the coffee table. "Can I see that?"

She handed her the note.

"You done reading this?"

"Yes."

"Good." April jumped and spun, effectively shredding the note into confetti. "Because I don't believe it, and I don't want you to read it again."

June stared at the shreddings on the floor. "It doesn't look like I'll be doing that any time soon." She bent to pick up the tiny pieces of paper. "Do you want to do this, or tell Mom and Dad?"

April stood up. "I don't have a mom, or a dad, remember?" She lightly stomped upstairs to her room. "At least I'm going back to school next week."


	15. Chapter 15 Bullies

Bullies

"Where's your Romeo, April?" Jen put on a fake sad face. "Oh wait, it turned out you two were related to each other!"

April grumbled. Apparently, Eggman had spread his lies to the media. "Since you enjoy watching the news so much, it's a wonder you don't leave me alone." She turned around from her locker. "Don't you know what I can do these days?"

"You're right." Jen patted April's shoulder. "Better not to upset the wild animal." She coolly walked away.

April sighed, and finished opening the lock. She slid her textbook inside, closed the door, and locked the lock. "Finally finished."

A hand put itself on April's locker as though to block its use. "Going somewhere?" a mechanical voice asked.

Tingles ran down April's spine as she turned around and looked up. He, more like an _it_ but it looked like a he, was dressed entirely in black. Black sunglasses blocked his eyes, and his skin was smooth with a hint of shininess. "Home, I guess," she responded.

His mouth barely opened and she heard, "You stole something from my master, remember?"

"I… I don't know your master."

The thing, for she was convinced it was not human, bowed down and whispered something in her ear. What it said terrified April so much, she ducked under his arm and ran away as fast as she could. The students in the hall froze around her as she dodged them to get to the door. As April pushed the glass door open, she saw in the reflection how easily the thing was keeping up. She pushed open both double doors and threw them both hard behind herself. Although she didn't look over her shoulder, April heard the robot get bashed with the slamming doors.

"Everyone awkwardly stare at the Tailor mascot!" someone shouted, probably Bill or Alex. Several students standing around in the parking lot stopped talking to follow the suggestion.

Then glass door shattered, and kids began to scream. April chanced a glance over her shoulder from the cross walk. The robot scanned the crowd, locating her in an instant. The walk light was still red, so she turned right and sprinted into down town.

As April ran, she snapped the new cell phone out of hammerspace. She slid her thumb across the surface, tapped the little green phone symbol, and quickly dialed the number Sonic had told her to call in case of Eggman trouble. "Oh come on! Ring! RING!" The phone buzzed in her ear. After three rings, April checked over her shoulder. "Oh hurry and pick up already, Slick!"

Two long, drawn out buzzes later, "Hello?"

"Slick! It's April! I'm being chased by one of Eggman's fancy bolt buckets!"

"Oh, great! How long can you hold them off?"

"I don't know, but there's only one. For now!" April checked over her shoulder again.

"There'll probably be more really soon. Listen, it's going to take Tails and I a little while to get there." Other sounds came from Sonic's end, like the sound of a microwave. "Tails, wake up!" he whisper shouted.

"How long are you going to be?" April skidded a sharp corner.

Tails's groggy voice mumbled for a moment. "He can be there in two and a half hours, minimum. _If_ you sprint the whole way."

April grumbled. "I'm alone in this for over two hours?! Guys! I don't think I can hold out that long! Where are you anyway!?"

"You'll have to, and we'll be there as soon as we can! Ok? Good luck." Sonic hung up his phone, or cam com, or whatever he was using.

"Whatever, losers." April looked over her shoulder again.

The robot fired some kind of laser at her.

"YIPE!" She sent her phone to Hammerspace and ran even faster. One thing for sure, the robot had been gaining on her the whole time. April sharply turned into an alley, dodging the garbage heaps and laundry lines. Suddenly, a tall wall rose up in front of her, forcing her to slow down to avoid snapping her nose off when she bounced against it. Turning around, the robot was stalking right behind her, although it was now covered in trash and someone's clean laundry. April picked up a broken lifting weight and hurled it at the robot's head. The weight struck dead on the nose and tore the entire head clean off its shoulders. April took a deep breath.

The robot's arms split apart long ways, and it fell forward. April jumped out of the way. Then the legs also split, and a new head emerged from under the shoulders. The body of the robot shortened, and the new eyes illuminated. From its mouth came a hissing noise accented by bright white sparks. "Prepare to be annihilated, you hideous vermin!" it roared in a scratchy hissing voice.

April shook her head, tears forming in her eyes and her jaw and hands trembling. "Oh... Oh! Slick, if I live through this day, I am going to KILL you for dragging me into your life! AAAHHH!" She spin jumped against the wall to get over the monster, then sprinted back up the alley. The robot wasted no time turning around and firing a few laser blasts. April jumped around the corner and continued her mad dash down town.

This time, she weaved through several streets and cars. That strategy slowed the robot down, for most of the robot's speed came from speeding in straight lines. This gave April a small chance to remember how Sonic told her to run faster:_ relax, bend your knees, unclench your fists_. So she relaxed a little and thought of the day they'd both fallen out a ten story window. April smiled, then led the robot up the inside stairs of an abandoned building. She stood in front of a window and looked at the stairs, waiting for it.

She didn't have to wait long. The robot ripped through what was left of the floor, set its eyes on her, and hissed.

"NA NA!" April stuck her thumbs in her ears and wiggled her fingers. "Look at you! You couldn't catch me without, YIKES!" She jumped out of the way as another laser bolt flew past her and broke the window.

"You aren't half as fast as Sonic is," it hissed, "but you are just as hard to hit."

"Um, I'll take that as a compliment?"

The robot climbed out of the stairs and pulled all eight legs in so it was a ball. It then started to roll and to roll fast.

April jumped super high at the last moment and let the robot crash through the broken window under its own power. She turned and looked down.

The robot landed on its feet, still intact, but it did look like it was having trouble moving.

April glanced around the room for anything useful. Anything! A large box, an old chair, a… a broken refrigerator? April charged for the only article of furniture on the floor, the old refrigerator. _How on mother Mobius am I to move it?_ She discarded the thought, jumped at and kicked the top of the refrigerator. It fell down on its side with a resounding _THUD!_ April crouched behind it and started pushing it towards the broken window, gradually gathering the speed needed to bash through the window sill. So slowly, yet faster and faster... _This had better work!_ April thought as the glass came closer.

There was a _crunch_ and the huge box resisted when it hit the two inch window sill. April pushed and pushed and ran to the window to look. The robot seemed to be testing out its ability to move - seconds left before it was out of reach. Quickly and much without thinking, April jumped high over the refrigerator and spun into the back of it. She uncurled just before landing on the cement flooring, just in time to crash spread eagle. Stunned, she caught her breath and listened.

_BOOM!_

She slowly stood up and looked down the side of the building, where she saw the huge broken box on the sidewalk far below, and several shiny sharp legs lifelessly sticking out from under it. April sat and checked her watch, but it had only been three minutes since she'd called for help.

"_He can be there in two and a half hours, minimum. If you sprint the whole way,"_ Tails had said.

"If," April grumbled at that small word which was causing her big problems. "If, if, if."

"_There will be more really soon,"_ Sonic's words echoed in April's mind.

She stood up. _I can't fight like this! I need a place to hide, but where?_ Obviously, an abandoned building right smack in the middle of down town wasn't going to cut it. If April had to hide, she wanted to hide in style. April wanted a warm place, food, and entertainment for the long wait. And she knew just the place.

* * *

Eggman pounded his fists on the control panel. "HOW COULD SHE HAVE DESTROYED THAT THING?! The Egghunter was especially designed to keep on going no matter how much damage it took!" He took another look. "Wait, if it was completely destroyed, how come I'm still receiving a signal? That old box must have simply immobilized it. Oh! Self-destruct! You're no good to me anyway if you've been pinned down by a pin cushion!" He watched the beginnings of the explosion, then the video buzzed static. "I'll just have to do this myself! Humph!" He pushed the button to summon the Egg-mobile.

When it arrived, Eggman seated himself inside and piloted out the door. He was about to send for a robot when he remembered where he'd been putting all his time into lately. Then he noticed a small handful of teenage boys poking around in his front yard, the yard of the establishment Sonic had recently destroyed. Twice. He growled and was getting ready to shout when two anthropomorphic teens emerged from the ruins. "Hmmm…" Eggman thought to himself, "they could be useful." He prepared for a presentation and approached.

The skunk and opossum emerged with three special ray guns each. They passed them out, laughing. "And this, gang, is only a smidgen of that crop of heaters down there," the skunk boasted. "What a shame they're all the same."

"Don't worry," one of the human boys held up a gun. "We know _these_ work."

"Mine's bigger."

All six boys turned around. "DUDE! Where did you come from?!" The opossum awkwardly hid the stolen ray guns behind his back.

Eggman's Egg-mobile was in full display mode, showing all the weapons systems it had. Rocket launchers uncapped, laser guns sticking out. "That doesn't matter, but it _does_ seem that you have some things that belong to me!"

"Oh boy!" The apparent leader, another human kid, came forward with his arms out. He knelt before Eggman. "We're really sorry for swiping a couple heaters from that humongo stock you've got going on down there! Must have gotten the idea that you wouldn't miss 'em."

Eggman pecked a button and sent his rockets and lasers back into hiding. "I don't want an apology. If you want to keep those toys, you'll have to earn them."

The boys looked at each other. "Look, I'll pay you for them." One of them pulled out his wallet. "How much you want? One K?"

"I'm not interested in your little slips of colored paper that you consider of value. I could however, require your services."

"And just what could we do for the likes of you? I thought you were all about robots." the skunk pulled a plastic bag of white powder out of hammerspace. "I don't suppose you're interested in..."

"Of course not!" Eggman frowned. "What kind of a fool do you take me for?! Don't you know what that stuff will do to your brain?!"

"Well?" the opossum shrugged. "What _can_ we do?"

"I need you to help me find and detain someone."

* * *

April sat in the very back row, the darkest area and the chair furthest away from the door. The room in general was too dark to see anything except for the projection on the opposite wall and the snacks at her wrist. Now she was sitting in a warm dark room with entertainment and snacks and a whole lot of other people. She had also pulled her hood far down over her face, and slouched so her silhouette was skewed. April highly doubted anyone could find her.

Towards the end of the movie, two teenage humans in black decided to sit on either side of her. Terrified, she ignored them.

"You uh," one of the boys began. "You come here often?"

"What's it to you?" she responded in as deep a voice she could muster, and casually shook the last of her popcorn in her mouth.

"Nothing, just that my homie over here is interested in you, if you catch my drift."

"Is your homie gay?" she mumbled around the popcorn.

The black clad boy sat up sideways, facing her. "Fine. Let's cut to the chase. We were sent to find you, _dolly._ And we ain't gonna leave until you come with us."

April swallowed and took the last sip of soda. "Very well. But I'm staying right here until the movie is over."

"That's ok, Babe," the other boy finally spoke up. "We've got all the time in the world."

The movie soon ended and the credits started to scroll up the screen.

"Ok, let's go."

"Wait, there's always something extra at the end." April picked up the last of her yogurt drops.

Both of them grumbled and sat back down.

April discretely checked her watch. _Just a few more minutes left!_

* * *

Eggman had closed the movie theater. With the windows blacked out, the civilian patrons dismissed, and the staff unconscious, all was set for April's anonymous disappearance. It would take a while for Sonic and Tails to find anything once they arrived.

The two gang boys walked out of the hall, April being escorted between them. She nodded at Eggman. "I knew it. Just like you to be the cloud in the silver lining." She crossed her arms.

"Nice of you to join us, April! I assume you enjoyed the company?" Eggman floated overhead in the Egg-mobile.

"No comment."

The kid on her left frowned and tightened his fists.

April noticed this and smiled. "So, where did you dig up _these _worms?" She turned and looked him over. "They're obviously not as tough or strong as robots."

"If you wanted to see a robot, all you had to do was ask." Eggman pushed something, and a dozen small, flying drones descended from the shadowed ceiling.

All of the boys looked at each other, their expressions suddenly less arrogant. April simply glanced up, but she wanted to keep her eye on Dr. Eggman.

"Enough with the quibble squabble babble. Shall we negotiate, dear?" Eggman made the robots fly back up.

"I don't have what you want. I gave it to…"

The glass door shattered. Eggman ducked and shielding his head. April stepped aside as a spinning blue blade methodically sliced through each and every single drone within sight. The guys on either side of April ducked. Finished, Sonic stopped in the center of attention. "Eggman, the places you try to camouflage get more obvious by…"

"Slick!" April pointed to the broken door.

The third human kid standing at the entryway pulled out a ray gun from the underground vault and shot Sonic in the back.

"Whoa?" Sonic seemed dizzy for a second, then collapsed on the floor.

April gasped and looked away, biting her painted nails.

Eggman tossed a pair of bracelets to one of the boys. "Here, put those on his wrists and don't be surprised if anything strange starts to happen." He looked at April. "What's wrong with you?"

April was shaking, crying, and holding an hand over her mouth as though she was about to throw up. "You just…"

"Dolly, that was a stun setting." The one with the ray gun slid it back under his jacket. "Say, what happened to those two out there?" He poked his head out the broken door and saw that the skunk and opossum unconscious on the ground. "Dude, that guy took out _both_ metal men!" He came back inside.

There was a motion outside, April looked and saw Tails wave to her. He had some kind of device in his hand. He pointed to Sonic, so she looked and saw him peep an eye open._ Sonic's awake!_ Whatever they had planned, she thought she should provide a distraction. "Eggman!"

"What now?" Eggman frowned.

"I uh, I've gotta go."

"You're not going anywhere!"

"That's not what I mean, I mean I…" She looked around until she saw the 'Ladies' door. "I've gotta go in there."

Tails cringed, then flew out of sight.

"Oh, very well. But hurry! We must be out of here before that rodent wakes up."

She quickly made her exit.

Eggman called for one of the surviving drones from the high recessives of the dark ceiling. "Go make sure she doesn't do anything to escape."

The robot beeped and flew over to the door, and pushed it open.

"EEEAAAKKK!" There was a loud commotion before the door flew open again and a broken robot was kicked outside. "HOW DARE YOU!"

"If I may suggest something, sir?" One of the human kids folded his hands. "It don't fly to well if you… you know."

"These things are on his wrists now!" The human who'd been assigned the task of putting the bracelets on Sonic stood up. "Whoa!" He jumped back as several objects appeared on the ground out of thin air, such as several rings and a Chaos Emerald.

Eggman scooped up the Chaos Emerald. "So, the little rat passed off the goods, huh? Well, we'll just see about that!"

Sonic chanced a peek.

April came out of the bathroom, kicking what was left of the robot aside. "Sorry about that, all. But when you've got to go…"

"April," Eggman held the Chaos Emerald so it shown light in her eyes. "About what that robot told you earlier, now that I have this I withdraw my proposed deal."

She stood between two boys, who then looked down at her. "You know what? I wouldn't have accepted your stupid deal anyway! You're the ABC on the bottom of my running shoes, and do you _really_ think I'd stoop so low as to shake your hand? I'll much rather wash you off with soap!" April snapped both her hands simultaneously, and suddenly they held two bags of liquid hand soap each. She squeezed the bags into the eyes of either unfortunate human, who both ran away screaming blind.

All the remaining robots suddenly dropped to the floor, including the Egg-mobile. Sonic leaped off the ground and decked the boy with the ray gun. Tails flew in and clicked a remote at Sonic. He plucked the Chaos Emerald our of Eggman's startled grasp as Sonic hammerspaced the hammerspace blocking bracelets and picked up all his stuff. "Let's gout out of here!" Sonic waved his arm at the door.

April ran out the door, followed by Sonic and Tails.

"Wow! That was awesome!" Tails gave Sonic a flying high five. "Nice performance." He looked to April. "What you did with that soap super cool!"

"Yeah, one learns such tricks when one gets picked on like, everyday! I've learned to handle myself pretty decently with the big guys. Yet there _is_ one thing I don't get, Slick." She turned her head. "Why weren't you really knocked out by the laser?"

"Because of this," Sonic showed her a gadget Tails had made. "Invisible, battery powered shield. It give me a shock when it went out. Otherwise, how would I know when to knock myself out?"

He and Tails laughed.

"What was that all about anyway?" Tails asked.

"Guys?" April slowed down until everyone stopped with her. "He wanted me to give back the Emerald I'd stolen."

"Is that all?" Sonic waved it off. "It's no big deal, I do it all the time!"

"But Slick!" April's eyes welled up with tears. "He's got my sister!"


	16. Chapter 16 A Different Kind Of Ring

A Different Kind Of Ring

"'Forever closed yet opens wide to let the other come inside… One is broken yet will be stronger as the span grows ever longer!' And likewise, we unite Paul and May in holy marriage. You may now kiss the bride!"

Paul lifted the fine veil over May's beaming face, and they kissed for the first time (in public, at least...) as they each snapped their symbolic golden rings shut within each other. The small crowd cheered with their hands in the air.

The cd in the boom box played lovely music, but May threw her bouquet of dahlia pinnatas into the standing group of ladies without turning her head. Amy opened her arms and caught it.

Little Rose gently elbowed Amy in the side. "Lucky," she whispered with a little sister grin on her face.

Just to make sure the people watching them didn't get bored, May popped both feet so Paul had to carry her up the sandy aisle.

Most of Paul's family had traveled north for the occasion except for an uncle and great grandfather whom the former had to stay behind and take care of the later. But someone had a computer, and it had a video chat, so they were there in more than spirit. Almost everyone in Paul's family spoke only Spanish.

They held the wedding and reception on a beach with white sugar sand. The wind was gentle enough that the sand did not fly into people's faces, but strong enough to lift May's veil and flutter it in the wind. Lunch was light. There were a few tables to sit at, each with edible flower arrangements made of cut pineapples and pealed grapes and bananas dipped in chocolate and kiwis and honeydew and watermelon and almost any other kind of fruit you could think of except pomegranate. Absolutely all of it was delicious!

Amy especially loved chocolate covered bananas. They were so good, she kept going back for more. Also, it seemed, there was a young man who was very fond of the kiwis and honeydew. And wouldn't you know it, he kept visiting all the same arrangements at the same time as Amy did. He pretended to only be interested in food, but Amy could see out of the corners of her eyes. Then he sat down at the same table as her, facing the other direction, but still...

She decided not to let the poor kid suffer any longer. "So," Amy began. "How are you related to Paul?"

He glanced in her direction, then looked away again. "Hermano Paul is my brother. How are you… Uh… a Senorita May?"

"We're cousins. Are you studying English?"

He nodded. "Si. Yes, I mean."

"You're doing very well." Amy smiled. "What's your name?"

The boy mouthed something to himself. "Oh! I understand. I am called Juan. What is your name?"

"Today, I am simply Rosie."

"Very nice… to meet you." He held out his hand. "It is rare to meet someone as… as… how you say, looks better than good?"

"Pretty, beautiful, wonderful…" Amy shook his hand across the table. "I've got more!"

"You are pretty, beautiful, wonderful," he said, and caressed her hand.

Amy withdrew her arm. "Thank you. You're starting to remind me of my boyfriend."

Juan suddenly looked confused. "What is, 'boyfriend'? A friend who is a boy?"

She quickly thought of the word Paul said when talking to May. "Novia."

He raised an eyebrow. "Your 'boyfriend' is a novia? How can this be? Do you mean, 'novio'? As in, the boy who likes you and you like back?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah, that's it. What did I say?"

Juan glanced away. "Novia is a girl who likes you and you like back."

"Oops! I meant novio! Novio!" Amy shook her head. "You reminded me of my _novio_ for a bit, back there."

"How?"

"You both rush into danger. Now if you excuse me," Amy stood up to find more bananas.

Juan stayed at his table, shamefully nibbling on his kiwi.

Amy reached for the last banana at the table her mother and Aunt May stood beside.

"Aww, Rosie." Her mother set down her cup on the table. "He was just trying to be friendly."

Amy smiled. "Perhaps a little too friendly."

Aunt May laughed. "And why is that?"

"Because I've already got my heart set on someone else. Are there any more bananas around?"

"Not that I'm aware of, dear." Mom smiled and bent down a little. "And just who is this someone else whom my older daughter is interested in?"

Amy threw a few hearts around as she folded her hands. "Why, my hero! Sonic!"

Both women laughed daintily. Aunt May semi recovered first. "Darling, you are too funny!"

Amy frowned. "No, I'm serious! Someday…"

"Honey," Mom put a hand on Amy's shoulder. "Have you thought about when the last time you saw this boy was?"

She paused. "Just, a couple of weeks ago. Why?"

"As gipsies, we tend not to visit the same places twice. Remember how long you went missing for?"

"I certainly do," Amy folded her hands. "After I met Sonic, I became a heroine."

Mother knelt in front of Amy. "And I'm so proud of you. All those years we thought you were gone, and I don't want to lose you again. Do you understand?"

Amy shrugged Mother's hand off her shoulder. "Yeah, I understand." She looked back towards the ocean. "You know, I think the ocean air is getting to me again. I can't stop thinking about the rip tide. Can I go home and lay down?"

"Sure, dear." Amy's mother stood up.

Amy walked until she was over the sand dunes, then sprinted for the enormous truck they all lived in. _Since when did I live in a truck?_ She opened the door and ran into her room. Once there, she quickly opened her drawer of the little desk and pulled out her tarot cards. "When will I see Sonic again?"

The first cards showed the color blue, a chao, and a face confused.

"Ok," Amy shuffled again. "Will I _ever_ see Sonic again?"

This time, the three cards were a clock, the color blue, and an outline of a hand.

"What?!" she shuffled them again. "Will I ever see Sonic again?!"

An open hand, a wrist watch, and a Chaos Emerald.

"What on Mobius does that mean!?" Amy flopped on Little Rose's bed, deck in one hand, draw in the other.

"Rosie?"

Amy lifted her head a little. "Oh, come in May. I was afraid you were my sister."

May sat on the stool beside the desk. "I saw you leave, and I wondered what was up. So, who's fortune are you telling?"

Amy glanced at the three cards again. "Apparently no one's," she grumbled.

"But you tried to tell your own, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Only whenever I did I before, it actually made sense!" She handed the draw to May. "This is my third try."

May studied the cards. "What exactly did you ask?"

"I asked when I'd see Sonic again." Amy rolled onto her stomach. "But all three times have been similar to that."

"The pictures themselves were similar? Or the confusingness was the same?"

"Both."

May looked at the cards again. "I'm sure you know how these things work by now. Not always true, always generic…"

"But it only works if you believe in them, I know, I know. People then start looking for ways the fortune could be true. I grew up on these, remember?"

"Do I ever." May handed back the cards. "You were the star of the show! If only in short and small ways, whatever you said came true. And if all three draws were similar, don't you think we should try to figure it out?"

"Whatever." Amy sighed.

"Ok, what were the other two draws?"

"The first one was a shade of blue, a chao, and a confused face. After that came a clock, a different shade of blue, and the outline of a hand. What you see in front of you is what was most recent."

May eventually shook her head. "Do you want to try again? This time, I'll draw the cards."

"You?" Amy blinked. "Ok." She waited for May to finish shuffling. "When will I see Sonic again?"

May drew the cards and set them in order on the desk. "Come and look at this, Rose."

Amy got up and looked at the cards. "I don't think I've ever seen _that_ card before!" She pointed to the first card, a picture of Chaos Zero. The next one was an open hand, the last was a plain and simple question mark.

"And you probably won't see it ever again. Look," she rubbed the corner of Chaos Zero, and a few sparkles twinkled off to reveal the true corner underneath.

"It's covered in Chaos Energy." Amy shook her head. "Why do _my_ cards have to be so unique?"

"Yeah, so I'm also guessing that you know what this thing is?" May tapped the card depicting Chaos.

She nodded. "It's the Chaos creature. It used to be sealed inside a black Chaos Emerald until Eggman broke it. Then it almost destroyed a city, but Sonic transformed into his Super form and made it go back into a dormant state. It happened shortly after I wished on a ring to make myself prettier. What are you doing?"

May rubbed away the rest of the picture. "Looking to see what's under it. Look, another Chaos Emerald."

"Not just any, that's the Master Emerald." Amy sighed.

May put the cards down. "Tell me about the Chaos Emeralds."

"They're powerful gems that can be used by certain people to control time and space or enhance one's abilities. Shadow can use them to teleport, slow down, or even stop time. If Sonic and Shadow both have one, they can use them to open some kind of portal that can be used to travel through time."

"I see." May stared off into space for a little while, then she snapped her fingers. "I've got it! In your case, a Chaos Emerald means time! So if we put them back together…"

"Time, hand, question?" Amy frowned. "That still doesn't make any sense."

May covered the Chaos Emerald. "Look at it now."

She shook her head. "Nope."

"What about now?" May moved her hand to the card of a hand.

"Time, question. Time, missing. Time… Time unknown?"

"Maybe." May covered the question mark. "What do you get now?"

"Time hand. Time… Hand of Time. I don't know! I can't think at the moment!" Amy flopped herself back onto Rose's bed.

May sat still for another minute. "It is unknown when you see Sonic again, because it is in the hand of time."

"Is that what the cards tell you?" Amy turned her head.

"It's a possibility." May stood up.

Amy stared at the upper bunk. "That still doesn't make any sense."

"I have to go," May made her way to the door. "They're missing me at the party."

Amy waved her fingers. "Bye."

May left. Amy found herself alone, and her mind wondered. Eventually, she thought of Rose coming in and seeing her on the bed wrong bed, so Amy moved herself to the upper bunk and resumed her mind wondering.

Minutes ticked into hours. People came back, invited Amy to supper, and ate without her when she said she wasn't hungry. Another couple hours later, Rose came in and turned on the lamp.

"What's this?" Rose picked up the cards on the table.

"What's it look like?" Amy folded her arms on the edge of the bed and rested her chin.

Rose smirked and looked back. "Looks like you told yourself another pointless fortune!"

"Think what you will Rose. I'm going to sleep."

"Ok. But your cards are still out on the desk."

Amy closed her eyes. "And nothing is going to hurt them until morning, unless of course you decide to play with them."

"Oh no you don't, sister! _I'm_ not going to be blamed for _your_ mess." Rose climbed in bed and was soon snoring and giggling in her sleep.

* * *

"_Amy,"_

_Amy shook her head. "No, no one's called me that since…"_

"_Amy? Are you talking to yourself or to me?" Sonic walked through the door._

"_Oh Sonic! It's you!" Amy jumped down and gave him a big hug._

_He hugged back. "Hello Amy. Are you having a nice visit with your family?"_

"_Yes, but they don't call me Amy. Since I've been with them, I've had like five other names. So has everyone else, except Paul."_

"_Was the wedding nice?" he asked._

"_It was perfect!"_

"_Did you enjoy the dancing?"_

"_I loved the dancing, but I think I loved the bananas even more."_

_Sonic laughed. "Leave it to you to snach up all the chocolate."_

_Amy giggled. "I've missed you so much!"_

"_As you've said in your letters."_

"_What's been going on back home?"_

"_Home? I thought this was your home now." Sonic pulled away, confused._

_Amy shook her head. "No, my home is with you, and Cream and Cheese, and Tails. Right?"_

"_Then why are you still here? If your home is where I am, then why did you call this, this huge truck trailer home?" Sonic walked in a circle, looking about. "Where is home, Amy?"_

_Amy couldn't respond. "I, I don't know. Home is where your heart is. I love you, and I love them too! What do I do?"_

"_I don't know."_

_She decided to change the subject. "What have you been doing lately?"_

"_I don't know."_

"_How could you not know!? It's you who's doing it, not me."_

_Sonic suddenly had a letter in his hand. "How many of these did I send you?"_

"_Just one, I don't know why."_

"_How long ago?"_

"_Two whole letters ago. Why haven't you written back?"_

_Sonic's letter disappeared. "How can I write back when you don't send a proper return address?" Then he vanished entirely._

"No, Sonic. Don't go…" Amy opened her eyes. She sat up in bed, but it was still the middle of the night. Already the dream was fading, and she was exhausted. She turned over and closed her eyes again, trying to remember every word the dream Sonic had said. But just like him, they were gone.


	17. Chapter 17 Tea Party

Tea Party

Little Rose came into her room and froze mid step. "What, have, you, done?"

"Something I do with Cream and Cheese all the time. Come on! You'll love it!" Amy pulled the stool out from under the desk.

The little vanity desk that used to be in the corner now stood in the center of the tiny room, mirror leaned against the wall, with the stool and several pillows around it. The desk had been cleared off, but now it had Grandma's tea kettle, Aunt May's sugar bowel, and five odd sets of cups and saucers. Three sets of two pillows each had been set on top of each other, with the top pillow sporting a hand drawn face. The faces themselves looked like a rabbit, a chao, and a stuffed bear. Cream, Cheese, and Mr. Bear.

"Okay..." Little Rose slowly spun on her heal. "I think I'd better…"

Amy jumped up and stood in front of the suddenly closed door. "Please, Rose. It's just for fun and I won't make you do it a second time."

Little Rose raised an eyebrow. "I have a choice the first time?"

Amy put a finger on her chin and looked at the ceiling. "No," she shook her head, "not really. Come." Amy pulled her sister to sit on the stool. Then she sat herself on the pillow opposite the stool.

Little Rose raised an eyebrow at the empty cup in front of her. "Grandma's old tea kettle, empty cups, empty saucers, fake friends, Aunt May's empty sugar bowel... HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY!?"

Amy giggled. "Maybe a little."

"What's this even called anyway?" Little Rose picked up the small cup and peered inside.

"A tea party!" Amy held up the tea pot. "Would you like some tea?"

"What flavor is it?" Little Rose held forward her cup.

Even though Amy tilted the pot, nothing came out the spout. "Your favorite flavor."

"Wow, thanks." She looked in the empty tea cup again. "I didn't like tea anyway." She set the cup down and poked Cheese in the eye. "And, what's with the manufactured company?"

"That's Cheese, or as close as I could get." Amy patted Cream on the head. "This is Cream, and the one to your right is Mr. Bear."

"You made a stuffed animal of a stuffed animal? Isn't that kind of pointless? Isn't this whole tea party kind of pointless?! I mean, what's with all this? What's the point?"

"Does everything you do have to have a purpose?" Amy pretended to sip the top of her tea cup. "It's fun!"

"This is stupid! What are we supposed to do?"

"Well," Amy thought of all the tea parties she'd had with Cream. "We talk."

"About what?" Little Rose crossed her arms.

Amy shrugged. "Anything. One time when Cream and I were having a tea party, Angel Island passed by overhead. Next thing we knew, Sonic and Knuckles fell from the sky! Sonic landed the table and sent out tea set everywhere!"

Little Rose snorted. "And then what happened?"

"Then Cream's mom came to the window and asked what was going on. Cream and I told Sonic what _we_ would do if he and Knuckles did not make it up, so they said they'd be joining us! I guess we kind of forced them to."

She giggled again. "Tell me another."

"Well," Amy thought about another good one. "About a month ago, I brought a short book to our tea party. I helped Cream read the first couple pages, but after that, she was complaining that it was too easy!"

Little Rose laughed. "Cream sounds really funny!"

"Cheese is even funnier." Amy put the Cheese pillow on the table. "Sometimes he'll sit on Cream's head and tickle her ears. Other times, he's on the table with a tea cup almost as big as he is!"

"Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!" Little Rose tapped her hand on the table.

Amy laughed along. "And the funniest thing, ha ha, the funniest times are when you give Cheese a real sugar cube!"

"Oh no!" Little Rose grinned. "What happens?"

Amy winked, then put her hand on top of Cheese and twisted the pillow around.

Little Rose laughed aloud, for Cheese's other face had huge eyes, a spiral above his head, and his arms pushing into his cheeks so his mouth puckered. They both laughed hard until Amy started to cry.

Gradually, Little Rose calmed down. She stood up and hugged her sister. "What's wrong, big sis?"

Amy quieted her sobbing. "I miss them…" she whispered. "I miss them so much! The tea parties, our adventures, the way Cheese puckered up when he ate a cube of sugar and got all hyper and flew around all over the place! Strangely, I miss being able to flatten robots with my magic hammer. I miss Sonic and the way everything rattled whenever he ran by! I miss Tails and his cluttered little workshop that was always heaped with unfinished tidbits. I miss the parties we had on Angel Island, and the midnight games, and the people we would meet! What do you call this?"

"You miss being kidnapped?" Little Rose cringed. "You miss Dr. Eggman and his millions of laser barrels pointed at your head? What, do you also miss the parts where you almost get killed?!"

Amy nodded. "Those were the best times, because that's when Sonic always ran in and saved me!" She rubbed her eyes.

Little Rose scooted closer. "In one of your letters to Cream, didn't you say something about a tea party with all three of us?"

Amy thought about it. "I think so."

"Do you think if we both ask with extra-large and wet eyes, Grandpa will let us visit your friends?"

"I think it's worth a try. After all, we couldn't be as not with them as we are right now."

"Ok then! Let's go!" Little Rose pulled Amy to her feet then opened the door.

They toured the house until Grandpa was found in the living room, cemented to his favorite lounge chair and the local newspaper blocking a mouth full of chewing gum. He peaked over the edge of the top page. "Well now, it looks like I have some company."

Little Rose pushed the paper aside and climbed on Grandpa's lap. "Grandpa, we have a question."

"And I might have an answer. What do you ladies need?"

"We want something to do." Amy sat cutely on a small stool. "It's boring around here without Paul and May, them being on a honeymoon and all."

Grandpa put a tissue up to his mouth to dispose of the gum. "Well, what would you girls like to do?"

"Let's go on a vacation!" Rosy bounced on his knee.

"Where would you girls like to go?"

"That part's a long story," Amy folded her hands.

Little Rose pointed to Amy. "I want to meet all these friends she's been talking my ears off about ever since she came back! I want to see Angel Island fly by overhead! I'd also like to have a tea party with Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao and Mr. Bear the stuffed bear! Please! Please, please, please can we go? Sister and sister?"

Grandpa laughed and shook his head. "You girls ought to take this one up with your folks, not me. I'm an old man, I can't help you kids if you get in trouble."

"If you're worried about our safety," Amy whipped out her hammer. "I've got us covered!"

"Sill, you ladies had better take it up with your Mom and Dad. I think I spoil you kids too much already."

"Where are they?" Little Rose asked.

"Outside, I think."

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Amy grabbed Little Rose by the hand and they skipped outside to find their parents.

Mama and Dad were inspecting the undercarriage of the truck, pointing out this or that, both somewhat covered in grease.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Little Rose bounded into her father's arms.

Dad scooped her up and pushed her bangs up and out of her eyes. "And to what do we owe the honor of your ladies' illustrious visit?"

"The celebrated Lady Rosy," Little Rose twisted in Dad's arms to motion to Amy with a flourishing arm motion. "Exalted world renowned hero of Mobius, Keeper of the one and only magic Piko Piko Hammer, Savior of countless citizens, Holder of the only known Tarot cards that can actually change their faces, and Herald of Robotic Destruction, and I, petition the authorities to venture forth on a quest for a tea party with the famed Lady Cream the Rabbit, and her royal mascot, Cheese the Chao."

Mama snorted and laughed. "My dear, you said all that in one breath! I dare say you're turning out to be quite the actress!"

Little Rose giggled.

Dad set her down. "Just keep up the good work, and we'll turn you into a star yet!"

Amy lost her smile. "Rose and I want to go visit Cream. Didn't you hear?"

"Rosy, your father and I are very busy. Run along and play." Mother touched a spot on the main axle.

"Run along and_ play_?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to see how fast I can run?"

"Oh ho." Little Rose sat herself beside the wheel. "Looks like something just went south..."

Amy sprinted all the way around the truck, stopping where she had started in time for a brisk breeze to kick up.

"Ah!" Mom came back out from under the undercarriage. "What in the world do you think you're doing, Rosy darling?"

"What?" Amy shrugged. "I was just running. And that was_ nothing_."

"Just running!" Father wiped his hands with a rag. "That wind of yours nearly knocked us off balance!"

"Yeah, as expected." Amy rubbed her thumb and first finger together. "But I can do _so_ much more."

"Yes you can, dear." Mother brushed herself off a little. "You've proven yourself quite talented with both the tarot and the acting."

"But Mom, you don't understand! Tarot and acting is like baby stuff compared to what I'm used to doing. I can take out robots, by myself. I've shut down entire Eggman bases, by myself! For the last several years I've been saving the whole world! But when I came home,… came here, it's like I'm being stuffed into a little kid again."

"Rosy, apologize to your mother." Dad crossed his arms. "That's no way to talk to your parents."

"Ok." Amy frowned and crossed her own arms. "I'm sorry that I feel incomplete and that I could do more with my life than provide entertainment and amusement for random people instead of helping my friends keep the planet safe and happy for all of us."

They were not pleased. Amy ran away. She ran into town and walked down the sidewalk, not really going anywhere. She stared at her feet and wondered where Mother had hid her boots and dress after insisting that they be washed.

"Whoa!" someone shouted.

Amy looked up just before she bumped into him. Boxes flew everywhere as both of them fell down on the sidewalk. "I'm so sorry!" Amy helped the mongoose pick up his packages. "I must have been walking too fast."

"That's alright. Thanks." He restacked the packages, then looked up. "Say, you look familiar."

"Oh?"

"You wouldn't happen to be Amy Rose, would you? Or are you just one of those girls who…"

"Nonsense! I _am_ Amy Rose. And you would be…?"

The boy sent the smallest package to hammerspace and pulled a photo out of his pants pocket. "We met at the fair, I raced Sonic in an obstacle course. You were there."

Amy looked at the picture. Tails, the mongoose, Sonic, and herself, all standing together happily. She remembered that this picture represented the last time she had ever seen them. Amy handed the picture back, rubbing her eyes with the other hand.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah. I forgot your name."

"Marcus, or Quicksilver. How come you suddenly disappeared shortly after the race? Most of the planet has been wondering where you are." Marcus slipped the photo back into his pocket.

"Those girls with me that day, they were my cousin and sister. I hadn't seen my family for several years, so I went home with them." Amy stared at her feet again.

"But they still treat you like they did six years ago."

She nodded. "Five years, but that's pretty much it."

"And you miss trashing Eggman's robots?"

"My parents say they don't want to lose me again."

"Tough love." Marcus's small package reappeared, and it fit into his pocket. "Let me drive you home, and I might be able to help you. My car is this way."

"Really? How could you help?" Amy followed him.

They approached an old but ordinary car parked at a meter. Marcus opened the trunk and set the stuff inside. "Well,_ I_ recognized you. If Mom and Pops want the family to stay incognito, they can't very well go having a big face such as yours getting recognized everywhere." He opened the front passenger door for her. "After you."

Amy slid inside and buckled up. "But what if it doesn't work? What if they still keep me?"

Marcus sat behind the wheel. "Hmmm… If I were you in your problem, I would very discretely try to look famous. You know, red dress, red boots, red hairband, and that comical hammer of yours. No one else in the world has such a hammer."

"Thanks for the advice." Amy smiled.

"No problem." He followed Amy's directions until they were parked parallel to the truck. "Well, we're here."

"Thanks for the lift." Amy clicked the buckle and exited the vehicle.

"Rosy!" Little Rose came running out the side door. "Where did you go?"

"I went to town."

"Ehem." Marcus came to that side of the car. "I have done my duty and brought you home, Amy."

"Amy?" Little Rose asked. "Who's Amy?"

"I'm Amy," Amy said.

"Oh I get it, that's the name you used all that time you were gone. But I thought you changed it!" Little Rose pointed to her sister.

"Really?" Marcus turned to Amy. "If you are not Amy, then I should take you back to the city."

"Please _don't_ take me back to town! And yes, little sis. Amy is my name that I have gone by since you were two."

"Since I was going by 'Amy' too?" Little Rose raised an eyebrow. "I don't ever remember being an 'Amy'."

"Well of course not!" Marcus nodded at her eye level. "At the age of two, you were just learning how to get your parent's attention at the most inconvenient times."

"What about you?" Little Rose put her finger on his nose.

"When you were two, I was eleven."

"What's going on out here?" Amy's dad walked outside.

"I honestly don't know." Amy pointed to Marcus. "This fellow recognized me when I went to town."

"Ah yes, how could I not recognize the Hammer Girl? Even underneath all that... all that... garb, she's still pretty recognizable." Marcus shoved his hands in his coat pockets.

"NOT IN ALL MY GLORY?!" Amy swung her hammer at him, but he jumped out of the way.

"Ooh, I think you've been getting clumsy." Marcus leaned back and slid out of the way.

"I'll show you clumsy!" Amy jumped on top of his car.

"You know what would be really clumsy?" Marcus pointed. "If you swung at the windshield and hit me! Whoa!" He ducked as the hammer spun over his head.

Although it had missed, the hammer kept flying and flew right into the trunk of a very large tree. Everyone gasped when they saw not splinters, but how the hammer had embedded itself inside the wood and was poking out the other side. Then the tree creaked and crashed to the ground.

By now, the whole family had gathered outside the doorway, brought out there by the commotion. They all looked at Amy.

Marcus whistled. "An arm like that could put a whole army of bad guys to shame." He casually walked over and heaved the hammer out of the tree remains. "And with a weapon like this," he eyed everyone else, "I won't be the last to realize who she is and where she belongs. Any questions?"

Grandpa came forward. "Just one." He lifted his head to Amy. "I want an address, and I want a hand written newspaper every week."

"Grandpa," Little Rose smirked. "That wasn't a question."

"No," Mother said. "It was a fact."


	18. Chapter 18 Home Again

Home Again

"Why does this place stink like airplane fuel?" April followed Sonic and Tails through the foul smelling maze of sleeping Eggman robots.

"Fuel is fuel, it doesn't have to be for a plane." Tails adjusted his mini scanner. "Besides, it doesn't smell half as bad as…"

"Shhh…" Sonic pulled the other two down. "See those three guard robots over there?"

"No, your glove is blocking my vision." April pushed his arm down. "Why do you guys have to wear gloves anyway?"

"Whatever!" Sonic half whispered. "The point is, they'll never know what hit them."

Tails smirked.

"Yeah, about that." April motioned to all the other little robots around. "How come these are sleeping and those aren't?"

"Because Eggman hasn't activated these yet." Tails showed her the scanner. "See?"

April grabbed it. "Oh, neat. Lots of pretty lights and numbers. Wait, what does this button do…"

Tails snatched it back, frustrated with her sarcasm.

"Quiet everyone! We don't want the noise detectors going off, do we?" Sonic looked from eye to eye. "I didn't think so. Lucky for us, Egghead has to set them high enough so the clank of metal feet doesn't ring a bell. So stay here, and I'll be right back." He quietly stood to sneak up on the robots.

"You know," Tails put a hand on his chin. "Something seems odd. If I recall correctly, that kind of robot functions in fours. So why are there two on one side of the door an one on the…"

Something poked April in the shoulder. She froze, slowly turning her head to look.

It was the barrel of the laser arm belonging to the last guard.

"Ah… Ahh,… EEEAAAHHH!" She twisted to get away, knocking over several ranks of the little robot army.

"ENK! ENK! ENK! ENK!"

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

"Oh well!" Sonic spun through the single robot, then stood between the other two. "So much for the sneak attack!" As planned, the robots both fired at the same time, in time for Sonic to jump above the explosion.

Tails jumped and ripped off the torso plate of the fourth guard's armor, then he pulled out as many circuits and wiring as he could reach. "I couldn't have said it better…"

Just then, the entire army of little robots woke up and showed their teeth.

"On the other hand…" Sonic dropped a robot head. _CLACK!_

* * *

"Oh! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!" Eggman pointed to the video play back on the large screen. "I think that was your best entrance yet, Sonic!"

The three of them, each encased in their own impervious cylinder, partially lined one wall of the small box office room off the bridge. April sat with arms and legs crossed. "I think Santa Claus is enjoying himself _way_ too much."

"I just hope he doesn't play the recording, again," Sonic slouched with his back to Eggman.

"I think I'm getting jet lag." Tails covered his eyes.

"We weren't even riding on a jet." Sonic turned his head.

"Still…" Tails leaned forward. "I _was_ flying."

Eggman restarted the recording yet again. "I tell you! You are at your finest in this one, Rodent!"

Sonic ignored him.

"Slick?" April said softly.

"Yes?"

"What if I said that I didn't really know my real parents at all? That Eggman's story of us being… actually…" April shook her head. "But then again, you never had any siblings."

"Periwinkle."

"What?"

Sonic looked up. "I used to have a little sister named Periwinkle, but she was washed out to sea by a tsunami. Besides, Eggman showed Tails and I some DNA proof."

She sat up. "And just where did he get this DNA proof?"

Sonic looked down. "I don't think I ever thought to ask." He jumped up and pounded on the inside of the tube. "Yo Egghead! Tails, you might want to sit up for this."

"What is it now?" Eggman paused the short video and turned around in his chair.

"I've been told that you have DNA proof that he and I are siblings?" April stood up, then crossed her arms again.

Tails lifted his head, looking from person to person.

"You little rodents are just itching for a beat down, aren't you?" Eggman chuckled at them. "Very well," with a flick of his hand, the large screen displayed four rows of letters, two closer above, and two closer below. Both pairs were identical.

"Where did you get these?" Sonic asked.

"From the previous versions of those tubes you are in now, the ones you destroyed." Eggman stood up. "If this doesn't prove anything, I don't know what would."

"A equals T, C equals G…" April mumbled to herself. "And yet…" She busted out laughing.

Tails stared at her. "Was there something I failed to see?"

"_Doctor_ Eggman," April smirked. "When was the last time you looked at a freshmen Biology text book, specifically the Genetics unit?"

They all stared at Eggman. "Uh…"

"You dim wit!" she slapped her knee. "If Sonic and I were to have the exact same DNA sequence, we'd have to be identical twins!"

"Yuck." Sonic grimaced. "Sorry, but yuck."

Tails snapped his fingers. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?"

"Because, perhaps, these samples were collected from two separate broken glass cylinders," Eggman went on. "Now how do you explain them being identical?"

"Again, dim wit. Sonic touched both tubes!" April held out her hands. "Remember Moron?"

Sonic slowly nodded. "My Super Sonic aurora would have burned away any DNA left by her."

Eggman stood silently for a while, then he started to slowly clap his hands. "Bravo. I am truly astounded."

"Kudos to me, hats off to the little purple basketball star, and what did you really have planned if you have no proof Sonic and I weren't really related?" April crossed her arms.

Eggman stopped clapping. Very calmly, he walked to Sonic's middle tube. "Well?"

"Dig a hole and water comes out. Well what?" Sonic stared back at him.

"Where are the Chaos Emeralds?"

Sonic held up a Chaos Emerald. "You really really want this, don't you?"

"I said, where _are_ the Chaos _Emeralds_?!" Eggman frowned.

"Hello!" Sonic held up one finger. "Do you see this? Yeah, one. I only have one."

Eggman backed away. "Then I guess June will not be released after all. Her exit ticket requires that I receive two Chaos Emeralds from you by the end of today." He tapped something and the purple Emerald suddenly appeared in his hand.

"RELEASE MY SISTER!" April scowled. "Or I'll owe you two tannings instead of just one!"

"Little, filthy, darling, rodent girl," Eggman stepped over to her cylinder as he said the words. "I am not afraid of you, you see, I've been watching how you react to things and I know you get scared very easily." He held forward one of the old lasers from the abandoned basement near April's home city.

April backed away, trying and failing to stop her lip from quivering.

"I thought so." Eggman turned around to see Sonic again. "So, where is the last Chaos Emerald?"

"I don't know."

"WHERE IS THE LAST CHAOS EMERALD!?"

Sonic closed his eyes. "Wow! You don't have to scream it. I am right in front of you. And as I said before, I don't know."

"Very well." Eggman returned to his chair, turning so they couldn't see what he was doing.

"I just felt it move!" Tails put his hand on the inside of the tube.

"Me too!" April looked at the back of Eggman's chair. "What's going on here?"

Second tubes of glass came down and covered April's and Tails's cylinders.

Circular holes opened up in the floor under the tubes, through which could be seen a several thousand foot drop before a frozen crash on the Frozen Southern Continent.

"Don't do this, Eggman!" Sonic looked left and right. "I'm the one you really want!"

"Most correct, Hedgehog. _You_ are the one I want. I couldn't care less about the other two. Who's going first?" Eggman turned around, grinning at Sonic.

"You're asking me to decide?" Sonic frowned.

"Yes." Eggman nodded, grinning. "Your 'Little Bro' or your 'Little Sis'?"

"Sonic, pick me." Tails pressed against the flexi glass. "I can fly."

"Oops!" Eggman pushed a button. "The player took too long choosing, so now it is random who takes the plunge first." He walked closer again. "I'll ask you one more time, Rodent. Where is the Chaos Emerald?"

Sonic glanced left and right again. "Amy has it. I let her have it for safe keeping, but then she went to visit her family."

"Before we met to go to the fair?" Tails asked.

"Yes." Sonic stared at Eggman, eye to glasses. "Before we all went to the fair."

"Sonic, I commend you for at least trying, but I love to admit that you are a horrible liar when the pressure's on! All the same, where is it?"

"I have no idea."

Eggman's mustache twitched. Then he turned around again and headed for a large round button. "Farewell, one of you."

"Wait!" Tails held up a hand. "On the day we went rock climbing, Eggman first told us about April. Then I had to catch up later in the Tornado, and then we took April home." He looked up. "Just before we entered the city, Shadow appeared right in front of us. We talked, and he used Chaos Control to return to GUN HQ. Shadow has the last Chaos Emerald."

Eggman paused. "Is this true, Sonic?"

"Yes. I now remember talking with the guy. And wouldn't you know it, he used the green Chaos Emerald to get there."

"Too bad Shadow isn't here to stop this." Eggman slammed his fist down onto the button.

April's tube vanished down the hole.

"NOOO!" Sonic punched the side of the flexi glass tube so hard it rattled against the drop tube above.

"YOU HORRIBLE MONSTER!" Tails held up both fists. "WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU!?"

"She stole this from me." He held up the Chaos Emerald. "I wouldn't be talking if I were you, fox boy. If I push this button again, you're going down next! Now let's see, where were we?" Eggman looked at the center cylinder. "What's wrong with you Sonic? It's like she really was your sister. Don't tell me you actually cared about her!"

"Oh, shut up!" Sonic spun into the tube, but only bounced around inside several times.

Eggman grinned.

* * *

"You're going to love it, Rose!" Amy unlocked the front door of her house. "Come inside!"

Little Rose followed Amy inside. "Whoa! Total pink overload!"

"Don't you like it?" Amy glanced over her shoulder on her way to the closet.

She smiled. "I LOVE IT!" Little Rose explored around a little. "Almost wish Mom and Dad could see, they'd be proud, I think."

"There!" Amy came back into the main room. "Now I feel a lot more like myself."

"That's the exact same outfit you were wearing when we met you at the fair!"

"So?" Amy hopped over and grabbed Little Rose's little hand. "Let's go to Cream's! Won't she be surprised!"

"How far is Cream's?"

"Just across this small meadow." Amy ran for a bit and they were there. She knocked on the door.

A moment later, Vanilla opened the door. She grinned. "Well hello there! I don't believe we've seen you in a while. Would you like to come in out of the cold?"

"Yes please, thank-you very much." Amy stepped inside. "Is…"

"Amy?" Cream and Cheese poked their heads around the corner. "AMY!"

"Chao!"

Cream clobbered Amy with her hug. Amy laughed. "It's nice to see you too, Cream! And Cheese!"

"I want in!" Little Rose jumped on top of all of them.

"I think I'll go make some cookies so you girls can catch up. Pardon me." Vanilla vacated the hug war zone and went into the kitchen.

"Amy!" Cream helped her sit up. "It would have been nice if you had written to say that you were coming!"

"And miss that look on your face when you saw it was really me?" Amy picked her up. "Besides, if I'd have done that, I still would've beat the letter. Cream, I'd like you to meet my sister Rose!"

Cream smiled and curtsied. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Chao chao!" Cheese flew around Little Rose's head.

Little Rose giggled, then spat into her right hand. "Put her there, honorary sister!"

Cream glanced around before Amy whispered in her ear. Cream gave Amy a strange look, but spat in her own glove anyway. They shook hands. "I hope Mother doesn't see this..."

"Chao." Cheese shook his head vigorously.

"Amy, come see what's on the TV! A lot has happened while you've been away!" Cream bounced down the hall, followed by Cheese.

Amy went around the corner. The news was on. "Who is _that?!_" The view was sort of focused on three individuals, two of whom were obviously Sonic and Tails and the other appeared to be a purple hedgehog girl about Sonic's age who wore two long pony tails.

Cream and Cheese reappeared, Cream still pressing the snaps together on her right glove. "I think her name is April Tailor. She started showing up on the news with Mr. Sonic and Tails just a couple days after you left."

"Yeah," Amy crossed her arms. "Who is she?!"

Cream looked at the TV. "I don't really know. Mother sometimes stays up later than me, she might know."

"What's the big deal?" Little Rose shrugged.

"Stay here." Amy popped into the kitchen. "Vanilla, do you happen to know exactly who an April Tailor is and what she's been doing with Sonic and Tails?"

"You don't have a television where your family lives, do you?" Vanilla opened the oven and slid the tray inside. "I believe Dr. Eggman recently said to the media that he'd found a sister of Sonic himself. Surprising, isn't it?"

"Impossible is what it is!" Amy huffed. "Anyway," she marched back to the TV, "do you know where they are, Rose?"

"Like, duh!" Little Rose pointed to the sky scrapers in the skyline. "Do you see that sky scraper in the background? Well that's the…"

"Don't give us a geography lesson! Where are they?!"

"Well fine!" Little Rose crossed her arms. "They were in the York province, but are now heading south west, which would make them coming in this general direction, but a little to the east of here."

Amy looked at the TV again. "Good, this is live. Come on! Let's go!"

Cream stood up. "Where are we going, Amy?"

"Whatever the guys are up to, let's assume that they need a few extra hands." The four of them passed by the kitchen on their way out.

"The cookies are ready in ten minutes, girls," Vanilla called from the doorway to the kitchen. "Where are you ladies going?"

Cream skipped back. "To save the world, Mother. May we go?"

"Chao chao?" Cheese pressed his hands together.

"Ok." Vanilla nodded. "Just be home in time for supper."

Cream closed the front door on her way out. "She said I could go."

"I wish I had your mother." Little Rose crossed her arms and kicked at a clod of dirt. "Then I'd never have to do any chores. I could go where I wanted to instead of buttering up May to butter up Grandpa."

"Who's May?" Cream asked as they started on their way.

"Our cousin." Amy took the lead. "Let's borrow one of Tails's gadgets and see if we can home in on those cam coms they wear."


	19. Chapter 19 Falling

Falling

_They say that there is no other sensation greater than that of flight like a bird. Well, they certainly didn't include the part where you're encased in an impossible to break tube and about to go go splat at ten thousand miles an hour when you hit the ice glacier at the bottom!_ April stared down at the frozen, barren ground, weightless in the indestructible tube. Already April's fingers felt numb and her lungs breathless and the beating of her heart rhyming with the cracking of the icebergs. She closed her eyes and cried. _June, I am so sorry…_

Suddenly she was smashed against the bottom of the tube, tumbling until her back smacked against the metal floor. April looked up and saw a rabbit flapping her ears, eyes shut and face strained. The entire tube shuttered in a gust of sharp wind. "Who are you?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!?" April noticed Eggman's airship getting closer and closer. _She's taking me back to the ship!_

The flying rabbit took April's tube to the flight deck, the largest flat portion of the dorsal section (as though Eggman's ship were a flying aircraft carrier), set her down, and then rolled on the floor. A couple of pink hedgehogs and a... she'd forgotten what they were called, hurried over, the older wielding a large hammer. The younger girl and the tiny blue animal took care of the rabbit while the hammer girl's mouth moved. She lifted the toy, jumped in the air, and slammed that hammer down on the top of the tube.

April ducked as large, cracked pieces of hard plastic rained down on her, quickly ducking out of the way as the top end of the tube, composed of a bulky radio communications unit and life support system, tilted and smashed down on what was left of the floor.

"There! How's that?" Hammer girl asked, sending the hammer to phantom land.

April brushed herself off, wobbling on her feet. "I... I'm... fine."

"I'm Amy, Amy Rose," she held out her hand.

"Ah," April nodded, shivering in the wind. "The chic Sonic talked about. April Tailor." She shook her hand.

"I know." Amy motioned to the other three. "This is my sister, Rose, and I believe you already met Cream and Cheese?"

"Yes!" Cream nodded, breathing hard but calming down. "She was buying a new cell phone at the mall. Mr. Sonic was there too."

"I _knew_ you looked familiar." April clapped her hands together. "Anyways!"

"It would please us very much to know exactly what's been going on in there." Cream stood up, panting.

"Ok." April nodded. "Here's the scoop. Nasty Santa Claus ejected me from the ship because Sonic wouldn't give him a Chaos Emerald to free my sister because he doesn't have it because some guy called Shadow has it. Any questions?"

"Where's your sister?" Little Rose asked.

April shrugged. "I don't know. I hope she's somewhere safe!"

"We can find out." Amy nodded. "All we need to do is access the computer and ask it where your sister is."

There was a low rumble, and the flight deck started to vibrate.

"What was that?" April asked.

"Chao!" Cheese flew close to the edge and pointed down.

"Cheese!" Cream ran over and grabbed the chao. She looked down. "We're moving! Eggman's moving the ship!"

"Finally!" Little Rose stood up. "I was wondering when the action was going to start. Now, where do _we_ start?"

"How about over here?" Amy walked up to a door, casually smashing the guard robot standing in the way.

"Ten bucks says it's locked." April followed.

Amy drew back her hammer. "Nonsense!" She pounded the door down.

April whistled.

"I know, right?" Little Rose passed April. "My sister so rocks!"

"Let's go, Cheese." Cream followed April, letting Cheese ride between her ears.

April tailed the little train until Amy stopped them at a computer station. She punched in a series of six letters for the password. The computer chimed and let her in.

"How did you know the password?" April asked.

"Eggman's so full of himself, he has to put himself everywhere he goes. Here we go!" Amy started typing again.

"How can you type so fast?" Little Rose stood on tip toe.

"Practice. But if you want to see _fast_, get Tails to write you a letter or something." Amy pointed to a room on the map. "Here is where your sister is being kept, April. Do you think you can find it or should Cream and Cheese go with you?"

April looked at the map. "I think I'd better bring along help."

* * *

June opened her eyes. _Where on Mobius am I?_ She slowly stood up and looked around. There was a caricature of Dr. Eggman painted on the slide door to the prison cell. _Oh, him again. Stupid floating cop bike! I should have known there was something wrong with you the moment you pulled over a pedestrian for speeding!_

She turned around, looking for a way to escape. There was a small air vent near the top of the wall opposite the door, just above her head. "So," June crossed her arms. _Mr. Know-It-All spent his precious time looking into April but not me? Heh, too bad for him!_ June spun around and nailed the metal grate with a kick. The grate shook and rang. She kicked it again and again until it felt like her foot would fall off.

June slumped against the side of the wall. "How am I going to get out of here?"

The slide door swished open. April and a little bunny with her chao ran inside. "June!" April hugged her. "You're ok!"

"I'm ok, you're ok!" June hugged back. "I hope we've got a plan."

"Yes. Amy and her sister Rose will create a diversion while we hack the computer and make it release Sonic and Tails. BTW, this is Cream and Cheese." April nodded over her shoulder.

* * *

"So, just exactly what are we doing?" Little Rose peeked at the computer display over Amy's hands.

"We're just going in there so that Eggman can capture one of us."

"Why?"

"So that the others can find the code that will raise the flexi glass."

"But won't Eggman be _lowering_ the flexi glass around us?"

"Yes, but for a code like that, there is always an anti-code. So when April and Cream see it, they'll input the anti-code for all the tubes. But we have to wait until they're in, otherwise we'd just be getting ourselves captured for no good reason."

"Oh, I get it." Little Rose nodded. "Jump in, make a silly face, and jump out. When the bots come after us, apply boot to robotic rear until he catches us. Right?"

"Well," Amy giggled. "That's one way of putting it. Now, according to this map, Eggman and the others are right behind that door." Amy turned around and pointed. "Who's going first? You or me?"

"Wait. How do we know when April and whatnot are in?"

Amy shrugged.

Rose lifted her eyebrows.

* * *

Eggman leveled out the acceleration of the airship towards GUN HQ. "Now, because there is no more need for the two of you to be here…" he reached for the controls that would send Sonic and Tails to separate holding blocks.

"Oops!" someone bumped into Eggman.

"Hum?!" Eggman looked down at the little pink girl.

"Hi!" She waved cutely.

"Who are you?" he asked. "How did you get in here?!"

She looked harshly back at him. "The ghost of Stardust Speedway past. Who did you _think_? Oh great! I forgot what I was gonna say. Hmmm… Let me think…"

Eggman pushed a button. "Better think a little faster, little Amy."

The little girl snapped her fingers. "I got it now! I gotta do this!" She stuck her tong out at Eggman, then started running around the two cylinders as robots started showing up. "Hello Sonic." She pressed her face against the flexi glass.

Sonic took a step back. "Uh..."

She giggled. "Oh, you silly Sonic! I don't like my picture taken." She danced around in a circle. "You win! You win! Everybody's a winner!"

"You're not a winner!" Eggman pointed his bots to the bouncing girl.

The robots turned and started walking toward the cylinders. The one in the front of the line opened its strong arms…

…And got smashed. By a giant red mallet.

Amy turned around and hugged Sonic's cylinder. "Hi Sonic! Did you miss me?"

"Incoming!" Little Rose pointed up as the second robot jumped over the hammer.

"Well!" Amy concocted a second hammer. "We'll just see about that!" She swung back and forth, sending jumping robots flying.

"Humph." Eggman pulled a switch.

"Amy! Look out!" Tails watched as robots started discretely marching around back.

"You got nothing to worry about!" Amy turned around and started smashing those.

"Rosie!" Little Rose screamed. "One got me!"

"Oh, no!" Amy chased the robot that was holding her sister.

The robot dropped Little Rose where April's tube had been, then Eggman punched in a code to close the flexi glass. "Sorry, Amy."

"You let my sister go!" Amy turned on him. "NOW!"

A larger robot jumped up and swatted her away. She fell on the floor.

Sonic leaned towards the new arrival. "Is it just me, or is she acting rather clumsy?"

"Mr. Sonic sir," Little Rose nodded. "It was all in the script."

Another robot picked Amy up and set her where a forth tube could trap her inside.

Eggman sent the robots away and folded his hands. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

"A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF _ACTUAL_ SIBLINGS!" a girl's voice boomed over the loud speakers.

"That voice!" Eggman sat in his chair.

April jumped down from the ceiling. "You'd better believe it!" She walked towards Eggman. "Looking a little scared there, Santa. I would be too, if I saw someone I'd just tried _and failed_ to kill."

"How did you survive?" he asked.

"You should know that one, Smarty Pants." She walked over to Little Rose's tube. "When I was first in one of these, when you pumped my body full of Chaos Energy…" She looked up slightly.

Tails gasped. "You used Chaos Control?" he almost whispered. "But that's impossible! You don't even have a Chaos Emerald."

"Don't I?" April smiled.

"No..." Sonic shook his head. "You didn't…"

Little Rose and Amy giggled. Little Rose clapped her hands. "Show him, girl! Show him!"

April spun around, vaulting her right hand, above which floated the purple Chaos Emerald.

"Impossible!" Eggman felt in his pockets, but the Chaos Emerald wasn't to be found there. "Why, you little…"

"Rodent?" Sonic asked, laughing. "Come on, Egghead! Be creative!"

"Yeah Egghead!" April taunted. "Hair Ball, Tailor Mascot, Pincushion… Rat! I've heard them all!"

"How about under glass?" Eggman punched in the code again and a tube slammed down over April.

"Wow." She kicked the side of the base. "_Totally_ didn't see that coming. But I do have one thing to say about it!"

"And that would be?" Tails asked.

"Third time's a charm." April snapped, and all five flexi glass tube started to rise.

"It worked!" Amy ducked out of her tube and ran to go hug Sonic. "It finally worked!"

"NO!" Eggman started throwing controls like mad. "That's not possible! How is this happening?!"

"Time to rethink possible." Sonic jumped and spun a hole through the roof.

Everyone jumped out onto the next level up. Eggman ran under the hole and looked up.

Cream, Cheese, and June joined them. "How are we going to get out of here Mr. Sonic?" Cream held Cheese close.

Eggman ran out of view.

"I don't know!" He spun a hole up to the flight deck and ran over to the edge. "I thought you ladies had everything figured out!"

"Hacking the computer was easy," June gave her sister a boost out the hole. "Thumbing a ride, that's going to be a real trick!" She picked up Little Rose and tossed her up.

"Whee!" Rose giggled.

"Up you come!" Amy jumped up, then reached down to give June a hand.

"Here _they_ come!" Little Rose pointed to an army of little robots charging from the other end of the flight deck.

"No problem!" Sonic ran over to go demolish the lot.

"I'm going too!" Amy bolted after Sonic. "Stay there, Rose!"

Tails flew to the edge and looked over.

April and the others followed him. "Do you see land?"

"Only water." Tails shook his head.

"Chao, chao." Cheese shivered.

"I know, Cheese." Cream held him close. "It is very cold up here."

The robots started popping out of hatches in the floor.

A slightly bruised Sonic slid in, Amy not far behind.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked.

"Chaos Emeralds." Sonic puffed. "The lot of them are all being powered by a lot of Chaos Emeralds."

"How many does the guy have?!" Tails scanned the robotic crowd with a mini scanner.

"Five." Little Rose held up the Chaos Emerald again, making it float and spin above her head in the same way that she'd fooled Eggman with. "And this one would make six if he could get at it."

"Chao chao!" Cheese struggled to fly.

"What's wrong?" Cream opened her arms.

There was a loud explosion, and thick billowing clouds of black smoke rose from the engines far below. The sensation of going down in an elevator settled over everyone.

Eggman's Egg-mobile appeared. "Three thousand miles from habitable land of any kind, Eggman's latest and greatest flying fortress goes down in history and takes Sonic the Hedgehog and all his friends with it!" He waved, "The only thing that can stop the one minute auto destruct now in a Chaos Emerald! Ta ta!" and away he flew.

Tails grabbed Little Rose by the hand. "We've got to get down to the engine room!"

"Why?" Little Rose tried to pull away.

"Because setting the auto destruct doesn't just foul the engines," April took the girl's other hand. "This whole ship is going up in a fire ball if we don't get that Emerald with the others is less than a minute!"

"Give me the Chaos Emerald!" Sonic jumped in front of them. "I can find the rest of them much faster!"

"Here!" Little Rose dropped it into his hand.

"Thanks!" Sonic held it up. "Chaos Control!" He vanished in a bright flash of light.

"What did that do?" April started running for the edge again.

"Chaos Energy is attracted to Chaos Energy," Tails explained. "That little teleport just took him directly to where the rest of the Chaos Emeralds are."

Cream shivered as she continued looking over the edge. "Amy, the water's getting closer!"

"It's not the water I'm concerned about," Amy stood looking where Sonic had been last. "I'm sure Sonic will find the auto destruct, but I'm worried he won't have enough time to get back up here before we hit the water! He could drown!"

April glanced at her watch. "Twenty seconds…" no one spoke. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three…"

There was a buzzing sound, and Sonic popped up out of the floor. "Brace yourselves!"

Each robot in the on deck army exploded violently, demolishing all but the small smidgen of deck everyone stood on. The ship started to fall faster, then it started to tip. Everyone clung to the hot edge of what was left of flight deck as the once air born air ship dipped her far end into the frigid water.

"Mr. Sonic! I'm scared!" Cream shivered.

"What are we going to do, Sonic?" Tails asked from his other side.

"I don't know!" Sonic looked from side to side. "Does anyone have any bright ideas?! April, what are you doing?"

She had her cell phone between her thumbs and was tapping the screen. "SOS." She sent it to hammerspace.

Twelve seconds later, as the water swallowed up the remainder of the ship and everyone clung to each other for support, there was a bright flash behind them, and a deep voice said, "You really got yourself into a pickle this time, Faker!"

"Shadow!" Sonic laughed. "You've got the last Chaos Emerald!"

"Indeed." Shadow hover skated on the water to the front of them, then lifted the Emerald and said, "Chaos Control!"


	20. Chapter 20 The Curse Of Chaos

The Curse Of Chaos

"I tell ya, Little Buddy! This has been one of the craziest weeks we've ever had!" Sonic and Tails jumped down the cliff after retrieving their climbing gear.

"Two weeks, actually." Tails started counting on his fingers. "First Amy, then Eggman, then April, then today was one big mess of everyone and everything!"

"What was that, Christmas Island to York City to a flying fortrace to the ocean to GUN and back to York City? What a day! But I tell you, today we do N-O-T-H-I-N-G, nothing!"

Tails laughed. "Agreed."

"Hey," Sonic patted Tails on the shoulder and sent the gear to hammerspace. "Race to your house?"

"Three two one GO!" Tails ran and jumped in the air, speeding away by twirling his tails.

Sonic laughed and charged after him.

* * *

Amy Rose, Suzy Rose, and Cream all ran outside with the tea kit. Cheese followed behind with a bowl of sugar cubes. Amy spread the table cloth on their favorite tree stump while Cream and Suzy set up the stools, cups, and saucers. When they were all ready, Cream and Cheese went back inside to get the tea.

The wind suddenly kicked up. "Sonic's here!" Amy jumped up.

"How do you know?" Suzy asked.

Amy held her hands up. "The wind, Sonic made the wind."

"Wana bet?" She held up five rings.

"Ok. And I also bet he's standing just down the street at Tails's house after a race." Amy went to the street.

"And I say it was the just the wind." Suzy followed Amy down the street until they got to Tails's house.

Sonic waved to them. "Hello Roses."

"Hi Sonic!" Amy ran up to him. "What ya doing?"

Sonic shaded his eyes and looked up. "Waiting for Tails to show up. He wanted to race back, so I let him have it."

Suzy's mouth dropped. "Ok Amy! I know you've got them somewhere!" She ran up to Amy and started feeling all her pockets.

Amy raised her arms. "Not a chance, girl! I don't have anything in my pockets."

"Then what's this?" Suzy held up a coin purse.

Sonic laughed. "Still keeping that in your pocket? I told you it was going to get stolen."

Tails landed on the roof, panting. "Someone tell me how he does it."

"Who? Me?" Sonic looked up and shrugged.

"Yeah," Tails slid off the roof, landing on his feet. "How you can sprint for a thousand miles without breaking a sweat."

"Someone tell me how _she _does it!" Suzy shook the coin purse at Amy.

"Tails," Amy hugged Sonic. "He's Sonic."

"I think we already knew that." Sonic gently pushed Amy away. He nodded to Little Rose. "And Suzy, no one knows how Amy does it." He glanced over his shoulder. "Any of it."

"What's THAT supposed to mean?!"

Sonic suddenly leaned forward for an instant as though to bolt, but seemed to have decided against it.

Tails opened the door. "I gotta get a drink." He went inside.

Amy folded her hands behind her back, regaining her composure. "Suzy and I were at a tea party at Cream's house. Want to join us?"

"You know, I would on any other day, but today I'm busy." Sonic shook his head.

"Doing what?"

"Tails and I are going to hang out all afternoon, then we're going to Angel Island to make Knuckles give Tails that grand prize." Sonic pulled out a dead glow stick. "You know..."

Suzy smirked at Amy, then looked at Sonic. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that I, her, and Cream are all girls, would it?"

"Rose!" Amy sighed.

Sonic chuckled. "Nope. I'm simply busy."

"Good, because if you were, that would be discrimination." Suzy laughed at her own joke.

Amy whispered into Sonic's ear, "I didn't think it was that funny."

Sonic whispered back, "Hey, you know that tea party of yours? Well it looks like you were gone too long."

Amy scanned the sky and saw Cream and a hyper Cheese flying towards them. "Come on Suzy. We don't want to delay our tea party any longer."

Cream landed, but faced Sonic first. "Ms. April is on the News again."

* * *

The ruff, buff, tough, human police officer crossed his arms at the sight of two hedgehog kids. "I can't let you in there! Do you know what that girl did? She can rip your pretty little faces off!"

Sonic copied the cop's pose. "Yeah, and guess who was there when she got this inhuman strength and speed?"

The officer laughed. "Really, son. Do I look like a fool to you?"

"You're starting to look like a fool to me." Amy waved her hammer around. "Now, are you going to open the door for us? Or do I have to make us a new door?"

"Amy, that isn't necessary." Sonic looked back to the officer. "Sir, don't you know who we are?

"It doesn't matter who you are, she broke a kid's nose with a single swipe! No, I can't let you in there."

Sonic sighed and his shoulders sagged. "Well, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this... Amy?" He crouched and started to spin.

"WAIT!" He hurriedly unlocked the heavy door. "I am not responsible if you kids get hurt. Just don't damage anything." _I might loose my job!_

April sat on the floor in the only corner of the room not occupied by the bed or the door. She was staring at a photo, but looked up when they came in. She flicked the photo up with her fingers.

It flew right to Sonic's hand. "A picture of you?"

"Naw, you never met her." April shook her head. "She was a normal high school student in a normal town with a normal life. Not me by a long shot."

Amy knelt beside her. "Do you mind if I ask what happened? Why are you here?"

"Where? Juvenile Hall?" April shrugged. "It's a really long story, and it's all Dr. Eggman's fault."

"I believe we already know most of it." Sonic sat on the bed.

"What happened after you got home?" Amy sat beside April on the floor.

"I went to bed." April, staring at the wall, put her hands through her bangs the way a human would. "And I went to school the next morning, just like I did yesterday as though I _wasn't_ living a double life. As usual, I was mocked as I walked the halls, but today was different. Today everyone kept their distance, like they weren't afraid to make fun of me, but too scared to get too close."

"If you're such a big basketball star, why do they make fun of you in the first place?" Sonic asked.

April glared at him. "Why else? I'm a hedgehog going to a human school. I am the only anthro… the only registered citizen of the city I live in who isn't human! I'm different, that's why. But it doesn't stop there. June and I, we were a pair. I was the cute one, the bait if you will, but she could clear the halls like nobody's business! Not only does she look and act tough, she has a black belt in pretty much everything and isn't afraid to apply her skills on the backsides of rude people. Believe me, it's happened before."

"I see." Amy folded her hands. "What happened today?"

"I don't know how it started, really." April blinked slowly. "All year, ever since the first day, there was this girl called Jen. She made fun of me at the end of every day, and sometimes between classes. Today, just after my first class, she was there, right behind me. I don't remember exactly what she said. Probably something about Romeo and Juliet. Anyway, I got mad." She covered her eyes for a moment, when she looked up at the door again, she was crying. "I knocked her across the hall with the palm of my hand! Her whole body slammed against the wall, her feet hanging a good six inches above the ground. And when she fell forward, flat on her face, I remember hearing something." April rubbed her eyes again. She looked from face to face. "And when she wakes up in the hospital tonight, she's going to look in the mirror, and realize that her face will never be the same again! And it's all because of me!" April started to sob.

Amy rubbed April's back. She looked hopelessly to Sonic, who just stared blankly back.

April dried her eyes again. "I used to make them laugh! I made my worst enemies laugh when they were making fun of me! I could take any insult, any jeer, or any name, and I used words as my weapons to turn it all back at them! Why can't I do that anymore? What, I used my hand to break someone's nose? And now… I used to be a silly and cute freak to them, but now they think I'm a monster!" She glanced from Amy to Sonic. "Why?"

Amy looked at Sonic.

"It's the Chaos Energy that did it to you." Sonic stood up and came over. "When Eggman shot all that Energy into you, you started acting strange to others?" He nodded and sighed. "I guess I tried to show you what you could do, so you could learn to control all that Chaos Energy. All I did was stir it up!"

"Sonic, it's not your fault." Amy stood next to him. "For the rest of us, we're used to the Chaos Energy. It's so easy for you and me! And why shouldn't it be? We were born with it! We grew up using it! It's like we were born to be world heroes." She turned back to April. "And you were born to be a basketball star! Oh..." Amy looked at Sonic again. "Isn't there _something_ we can do to help her? After all, if the Chaos Energy is what's wrong, couldn't we make it go away?"

"And just _how_ do you want to get rid of Chaos Energy I'd like to know? I don't think anyone has ever done it before!" Sonic thought about it for a bit. "But I know of a way to block it."

"How?" April stood up.

"There was once when Eggman forced me to put on these silly Order Bracelets. You might have seen something about it on the News."

"I don't watch the News if I can help it."

"Neither do I." Sonic held up two bracelets, both somewhat transparent. "If you put these on, they will block all your Chaos abilities from running on water to hammerspace."

"GIVE ME!" April grabbed the bracelets and slid them over her hands.

"Wait!" Amy tried to stop her. "Weren't there bombs inside?"

Sonic shook his head. "No worries. Tails took them out a long time ago."

"Thank you both so much!" April smiled. A pair of basketball shoes fell on the floor. "What?"

"Your stuff coming out of hammerspace." Amy waved it off.

A collection of pencils and a biology text book joined the shoes. April looked up again. "I guess I'll need to get me a back pack."

"You can use this one." Sonic handed her Eggman's backpack. "I guarantee that anything and everything you decide to put in it will fit."

"Why?" April put her hand inside. "It isn't that big." She put her book and shoes inside, then put her hand back in. "I can still reach in up to my elbow! Why?"

"Eggman said that part was a trade secret."

April laughed. "What, is it bigger on the inside than the outside?"

They all laughed. "Something like that," Sonic nodded. "Just one more thing, of all the things to be scared of, why guns? I mean, besides the obvious."

April's eyes became serious. "I was found in a basket outside the door of a gang master's girlfriend. She raised me like her own, defending me so far as to abandon the gang. But he didn't like that, and I ended up watching my mother get shot in the head when I was four years old."

Amy winced.

Sonic cringed. "Sorry I asked."

* * *

When Jen woke up the next day, there was something in her mouth and she couldn't breathe through her nose. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced about an apparent hospital room. There was a lady nurse making marks on a clipboard while reading one of the machines near Jen's bed. When the nerse saw that Jen was awake, she came over and took the thing out of Jen's mouth. "Extra air, so you can breathe better at night and not suffocate if you close your mouth. You don't have to wear it when you're awake."

Jen kept her mouth open while she talked. "What happened to me?"

The nurse opened her mouth to speak, then closed it.

She pushed herself up in the bed. "I'm a big girl, I'm not going to cry."

"Very well." The nurse nodded. "You were in a fight with another student in your school. Your head was bopped against the wall and your nose is broken."

Jen reached up and felt the bandage over her nose. "Who was it?"

"Me." April stood in the doorway. "If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you alone."

"Sure." Jen cocked her head. "Alone...?"

"Here is the call button in anyone needs help." The nurse set a remote into Jen's hand. On her way out, she slipped one into April's.

"So," Jen crossed her arms. "You're still bold enough to face the one you permanently defaced."

"May I sit down?" April patted the bed.

Jen eyed some strange, white flickering bracelets around April's wrists. "Whatever."

April jumped a little and sat on the edge of Jen's bed.

"Are you here to beg for mercy?" Jen stared her down. "My daddy is a lawyer, and I know he won't let me loose."

"I know, he had me sent to jail as soon as the ambulance got to school." April laughed. "Then Sonic and Amy came and got me out of there."

"How?"

April showed her her new bracelets. "Look, they make it so I can't do what I did to you anymore. I'm right where I was at the beginning of this book."

"I don't understand." Jen frowned at the bracelets.

"You know a lot about Sonic. You know how he runs real fast and can destroy robots by just hitting them? Dr. Eggman made it so that I could do that too, but that was also what I used to hit you with. These bracelets make it so I can't do that anymore."

Jen said nothing for a while. "So, you are back to your normal self?"

"Yes. You seem sad."

"Maybe." Jen shook her head. "It's just that, suddenly you were on TV and famous. I admired you for that. You actually made me jealous!"

"_You_ jealous of _me_?" April giggled.

Jen laughed. When she stopped laughing, her eyes became a little more serious. "All this time, do you want to know the real reason I picked on you?"

"Sure."

"It was because I hated the freedom you had. You can race your sister home, while she's on a motorcycle. I have to wait at school every day for my Mom to pick me up. Then you're a dream to the basketball team, probably the best one they've ever had. I will never be able to do anything like that. And, about Alex, you were right. I did give him the get go because he was treating me like dirt."

"Do you know what I think?" April leaned in closer. "I think we are being extremely honest with each other right now and that we want to be friends."

Jen smiled. "I think you're right."


	21. Epilogue: Where We Belong

Where We Belong

_September ... 24? 3233 Wow it's been over a week since I wrote last._

_Dear Diary,_

_These last two weeks have been a horror movie, and I think if I had never agreed to chat with that microphone man, none of this would've ever happened. The one good thing that came out of my little adventure is that I finally have a good friend in the class of 3238. Vivian and June are both Seniors, and they'll both be gone by this time next year. I'll have Jen until I we graduate. So curse you Eggman for the Chaos in my life, thank you Slick for the dream-come-true bracelets and the backpack, and the friend. But if I ever come across either of you again, I'll tan you both._

* * *

_Well, I'm back where I belong! Paul and May promised (via a post card) to write often under everyone's regards. In the meantime, I have to teach Suzy how to sing. Rose and I got permission for her to stay with me for a few weeks, and we're going to have lots of fun together! Real fun! I told Knuckles to start planning another party as soon as possible. If there was one thing good that came from my staying with my family, it's that they know I'm alive and well, and I know I still love them, even if I can't stand living with them._

* * *

_I swear I'll never do it again! Honest! Today! Of all days!_

_Sonic and Tails came to the island this afternoon, while I was polishing the Master Emerald, demanding that Tails finally receive his prize for winning that game at the beginning of the last book. And guess what he... THEY demanded I do?! Really? I suppose turnabout is fair play, especially concerning what I did to Sonic, so I suppose it's fair that he also had a say in the matter._

_I wonder if Chinese or Italian would keep Rouge more distracted?_

* * *

**Log: 9-24-33 1000 Hours CST**

**Commence Recording:**

I thought for sure Sonic and his friends were finished for good, but then Shadow had to go and rescue them! There are times I regret waking him in the first place. If there was one good thing that came from these past two weeks, it is that I learned who really has the last Chaos Emerald. For now, I have to figure out how to retrieve the six others from the bottom of the ocean. That is, if they don't scatter.

As for the little Tailor girl, I have gone over every inch of the last two weeks and found no solid evidence that she is related to the blue one. I had convinced myself of this previous assumption because of these two rodents just happen to have similar facial features, skills, interests, attitudes, wit, and the fact that Periwinkle, as I have learned her name was, rhymes with April's middle name Twinkle, the name her 'first' mother called her by before being adopted by the Tailors. On this subject I find myself on very similar grounds as the rest of the fur balls. Without proof, Periwinkle Twinkle remains anonymous.

End Log.


	22. Chapter 22 Author's Notes

**Author's notes**

Happy! Chipper! Fun! Adventure! Danger! Mystery! And finally **Sister Drama**. I suppose "A Rose Without Thorns" is about when I outgrew the fluffy personalities of Frankie, Jack, and Alwen. I wanted something quite the opposite. Alwen had no Chaos powers or abilities, so what if we met someone who couldn't control their Chaos?

**The first idea** for this book didn't even involve any new characters. An M scientist group would've come back and amplified Sonic's abilities ten fold to see what happened, but I sorta lost the idea after that. It wouldn't have gone anywhere or done anything, except perhaps into a tree. So the other sort of awkward was invented, and April was born. She's violent, mysterious, and suddenly unsure of herself on multiple levels.

**Little Rose** is probably one of the most real characters I've ever made, as I've had someone tell me that she reminded them of their younger sibling. Not in my family. I _am_ the little sibling, and we all know us little siblings have to be stubborn in order to bend the older siblings to our wills, right? Because the little sibling is almost always portrayed as the little evil one, I have discovered why we are that way. We love our brothers and sisters, but the little things they do are so annoying, they could drive us out the window.

**In the original version** of the script, all the letters and diary entries had a different font for whoever was writing, and, a couple of times, when a word was misspelled or if the writer changed their mind, the word was crossed out. If there's anything bad about the FanFiction word processor, this is it.

**Also** if you are able to see the cover in full size, you might notice two colored dots on the highway-the scene where Sonic steals April's lucky basketball and runs down the freeway.

**Credits**

"A Rose Without Thorns" was an experiment, to see if I could write **a double story**. And the beauty of it was that I could jump tracks whenever I wanted, especially during cliff hangers. It's always interesting to experiment and see what you come up with.

**Ownership:**

Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Vanilla, Cheese, the Tornado, Egghead, the Egg-mobile, hammerspace, the badnik described, the Chaos Emeralds, Mobius, and Sonic all belong to SEGA, an honorable organization to which I have no official affiliation other than being a costumer and a loyal fan.

**On the other hand…**

April Tailor, June Tailor, Jen, Little Rose and the rest of Amy's family, their truck, Order Bracelets, Eggman's backpack, York City, Liberty Island as it was, the basketball coach, the other team, and Vivian all are figments of my imagination. But if you'd like to borrow, all you've got to do is write a note, stick it in a PM, and politely ask to use the character or thing of your choice.

**Inspirations**

June's favorite song was "Real Gone" by S. Crow, from the movie Cars. To her, it's sorta like she's talking to the three major parties involved in this book except Amy.

(I think the next book is where I finally start getting more and more songs again.)


End file.
